| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll: Multiple of all the minds contains that of all the books; but not the
other way?"
"Certainly we may!" I replied, delighted with the illustration.
"And what a grand thing it would be," I went on dreamily, thinking aloud
rather than talking, "if we could only apply that Rule to books!
You know, in finding the Least Common Multiple, we strike out a quantity
wherever it occurs, except in the term where it is raised to its
highest power. So we should have to erase every recorded thought,
except in the sentence where it is expressed with the greatest
intensity."
My Lady laughed merrily. "Some books would be reduced to blank paper,
Sylvie and Bruno |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: gambler with loaded dice after cheating Monsieur de Grammont.
My cherished poet! I will be thy Mignon--happier far than the
Mignon of Goethe, for thou wilt leave me in mine own land,--in thy
heart. Just as I write this pledge of our betrothal a nightingale
in the Vilquin park answers for thee. Ah, tell me quick that his
note, so pure, so clear, so full, which fills my heart with joy
and love like an Annunciation, does not lie to me.
My father will pass through Paris on his way from Marseilles; the
house of Mongenod, with whom he corresponds, will know his
address. Go to him, my Melchior, tell him that you love me; but do
not try to tell him how I love you,--let that be forever between
Modeste Mignon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: for we did not see a single orluk; but this proved more than
fortunate for us, since the yellow men were so chagrined by their
misfortune that they would not enter the city by the same gate by
which they had left it in the morning, as it seemed that they had
made great boasts to the captain of that gate about their skill at
this dangerous sport.
We, therefore, approached Kadabra at a point several miles
from that at which the party had quitted it in the morning,
and so were relieved of the danger of embarrassing questions
and explanations on the part of the gate captain, whom we had
The Warlord of Mars |
