| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: sound in the world. The shore lay plunged in the
silence of the deeper slumber. I watched the town
recede still and soundless in the hot night, till the
abrupt hail, "Steam-launch, ahoy!" made me spin
round face forward. We were close to a white
ghostly steamer. Lights shone on her decks, in her
portholes. And the same voice shouted from her:
"Is that our passenger?"
"It is," I yelled.
Her crew had been obviously on the jump. I
could hear them running about. The modern
The Shadow Line |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: and tumultuous swell. How came there to be so much love in this
desolate old heart, that it could afford to well over thus abundantly?
"Goodnight, cousin," said Phoebe, strangely affected by Hepzibah's
manner. "If you begin to love me, I am glad!"
She retired to her chamber, but did not soon fall asleep, nor then
very profoundly. At some uncertain period in the depths of night,
and, as it were, through the thin veil of a dream, she was
conscious of a footstep mounting the stairs heavily, but not with
force and decision. The voice of Hepzibah, with a hush through
it, was going up along with the footsteps; and, again, responsive
to her cousin's voice, Phoebe heard that strange, vague murmur,
House of Seven Gables |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: destined for the cloister, being a sickly lad. His uncle, one of
the canons of Maguelonne, near by, had even given him the revenues
of a small chapel--a job of nepotism which was common enough in
those days. But his heart was in science and medicine. He set off,
still a mere boy, to Paris to study there; and returned to
Montpellier, at the age of eighteen, to study again.
The next year, 1530, while still a scholar himself, he was appointed
procurator of the scholars--a post which brought him in a small fee
on each matriculation--and that year he took a fee, among others,
from one of the most remarkable men of that or of any age, Francois
Rabelais himself.
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