| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: again upon the streets of New Orleans. Men started at the sight
of him, as at a spectre standing in the sun. And nevertheless
the apparition cast a shadow. People paused, approached, half
extended a hand through old habit, suddenly checked themselves
and passed on,--wondering they should have forgotten, asking
themselves why they had so nearly made an absurd mistake.
It was a February day,--one of those crystalline days of our
snowless Southern winter, when the air is clear and cool, and
outlines sharpen in the light as if viewed through the focus of a
diamond glass;--and in that brightness Julien La Brierre perused
his own brief epitaph, and gazed upon the sculptured name of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: that she thought, said, or did was perfect, and
that it would please every one except those who
were fools. Volgin felt and knew that every-
thing she said was stupid, but it would never do
to let it be seen, and so he kept up the conversa-
tion. Theodorite was glum and silent; the stu-
dent occasionally exchanged a few words with the
widow. Now and again there was a pause in
the conversation, and then Theodorite interposed,
and every one became miserably depressed. At
such moments the hostess ordered some dish that
The Forged Coupon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: To blush at speeches rank, to weep at woes,
Or to turn white and swoon at tragic shows;
'That not a heart which in his level came
Could scape the hail of his all-hurting aim,
Showing fair nature is both kind and tame;
And, veil'd in them, did win whom he would maim:
Against the thing he sought he would exclaim;
When he most burned in heart-wish'd luxury,
He preach'd pure maid and prais'd cold chastity.
'Thus merely with the garment of a Grace
The naked and concealed fiend he cover'd,
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