| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: with the straps of his stirrup.
This troop, the only defence of the prison, overawed by its
firm attitude not only the disorderly riotous mass of the
populace, but also the detachment of the burgher guard,
which, being placed opposite the Buytenhof to support the
soldiers in keeping order, gave to the rioters the example
of seditious cries, shouting, --
"Hurrah for Orange! Down with the traitors!"
The presence of Tilly and his horsemen, indeed, exercised a
salutary check on these civic warriors; but by degrees they
waxed more and more angry by their own shouts, and as they
The Black Tulip |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: CHAPTER V
He came back the next day, but she was then unable to see him, and
as it was literally the first time this had occurred in the long
stretch of their acquaintance he turned away, defeated and sore,
almost angry--or feeling at least that such a break in their custom
was really the beginning of the end--and wandered alone with his
thoughts, especially with the one he was least able to keep down.
She was dying and he would lose her; she was dying and his life
would end. He stopped in the Park, into which he had passed, and
stared before him at his recurrent doubt. Away from her the doubt
pressed again; in her presence he had believed her, but as he felt
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: Octave's ruin, that, unfortunately, was no fable, as Monsieur de
Bourbonne had at once discovered.
Monsieur de Rouxellay was not at all like the provincial uncle at the
Gymnase. Formerly in the King's guard, a man of the world and a
favorite among women, he knew how to present himself in society with
the courteous manners of the olden time; he could make graceful
speeches and understand the whole Charter, or most of it. Though he
loved the Bourbons with noble frankness, believed in God as a
gentleman should, and read nothing but the "Quotidienne," he was not
as ridiculous as the liberals of his department would fain have had
him. He could hold his own in the court circle, provided no one talked
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