| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain: not any one in the kingdom who would have considered
it good judgment to meddle with my matters.
I was fast getting adjusted to my situation and cir-
cumstances. For a time, I used to wake up, mornings,
and smile at my "dream," and listen for the Colt's
factory whistle; but that sort of thing played itself
out, gradually, and at last I was fully able to realize
that I was actually living in the sixth century, and in
Arthur's court, not a lunatic asylum. After that, I
was just as much at home in that century as I could
have been in any other; and as for preference, I
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Profits of Religion by Upton Sinclair: sway, and the tides, the tempest and the lightning will sweep the
earth clean again. I do not believe that this calamity will
befall us. I know that in the diseased social body the forces of
resistance are gathering--the Socialist movement, in the broad
sense--the activities of all who believe in the possibility of
reconstructing society upon a basis of reason, justice and love.
To such people this book goes out: to the truly religious people,
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness here and now, who
believe in brotherhood as a reality, and are willing to bear pain
and ridicule and privation for the sake of its ultimate
achievement.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Juana by Honore de Balzac: your secret. The devil! we have generals in our army who are capable
of abducting her."
Montefiore's infatuation went so far as to suggest to him the idea of
marrying her. He accordingly asked her history, and Perez very
willingly told him the circumstances under which she had become his
ward. The prudent Spaniard was led to make this confidence because he
had heard of Montefiore in Italy, and knowing his reputation was
desirous to let him see how strong were the barriers which protected
the young girl from the possibility of seduction. Though the good-man
was gifted with a certain patriarchal eloquence, in keeping with his
simple life and customs, his tale will be improved by abridgment.
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