| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: said, on returning." Perhaps 'tis wrong."
"What's right week days is right Sundays." replied her
mistress in a tone which was a proof in itself.
The book was opened -- the leaves, drab with age,
being quite worn away at much-read verses by the fore"
fingers "of unpractised readers in former days, where they
were moved along under the line as an aid to the vision.
The special verse in the Book of Ruth was sought out
by Bathsheba, and the sublime words met her eye. They
slightly thrilled and abashed her. It was Wisdom in
the abstract facing Folly in the concrete. Folly in the
Far From the Madding Crowd |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: since, if it fits well, its weight will be distributed over the whole
body; whereas, if too loose, the shoulders will have all the weight to
bear, while, if too tight, the corselet is no longer a defensive arm,
but a "strait jacket."[1] Again, the neck, as being a vital part,[2]
ought to have, as we maintain, a covering, appended to the corselet
and close-fitting. This will serve as an ornament, and if made as it
ought to be, will conceal the rider's face--if so he chooses--up to
the nose.
[1] Cf. "Mem." III. x.
[2] L. Dind. cf. Hom. "Il." viii. 326:
{. . . othi kleis apoergei
On Horsemanship |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "By this time," he had said, "I should have learned to wonder
at nothing which John Carter accomplishes." That was all.
He did not need to tell me that he appreciated the friendship
which had prompted me to risk my life to rescue him, nor did
he need to say that he was glad to see me.
This fierce green warrior had been the first to greet me
that day, now twenty years gone, which had witnessed my
first advent upon Mars. He had met me with levelled spear
and cruel hatred in his heart as he charged down upon me,
bending low at the side of his mighty thoat as I stood beside
the incubator of his horde upon the dead sea bottom beyond Korad.
The Gods of Mars |
