| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: Vandyke ruffled his long, black locks, disarranged
his careless tie and leaned over to Madder.
"Say, Maddy," he whispered, feelingly, "some-
times I'm tempted to pay this Philistine his ten dol-
lars and get rid of him."
Madder ruffled his long, sandy locks and disar-
ranged his careless tie.
"Don't think of it, Vandy," he replied. "We are
short, and Art is long."
Medora ate strange viands and drank elderberry
wine that they poured in her glass. It was just the
The Voice of the City |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: coquetry, and to expect that an impudent address will naturally attend an
impudent mind; at least I was myself prepared for an improper degree of
confidence in Lady Susan; but her countenance is absolutely sweet, and her
voice and manner winningly mild. I am sorry it is so, for what is this but
deceit? Unfortunately, one knows her too well. She is clever and agreeable,
has all that knowledge of the world which makes conversation easy, and
talks very well, with a happy command of language, which is too often used,
I believe, to make black appear white. She has already almost persuaded me
of her being warmly attached to her daughter, though I have been so long
convinced to the contrary. She speaks of her with so much tenderness and
anxiety, lamenting so bitterly the neglect of her education, which she
Lady Susan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: herself. The diplomatic admiral extracted a solemn promise from his
niece that she would for the future be gentler, less noisy, and less
wilful, that she would spend less, and, above all, tell him
everything. The treaty being concluded, and signed by a kiss impressed
on Emilie's white brow, he led her into a corner of the room, drew her
on to his knee, held the card under the thumbs so as to hide it, and
then uncovered the letters one by one, spelling the name of
Longueville; but he firmly refused to show her anything more.
This incident added to the intensity of Mademoiselle de Fontaine's
secret sentiment, and during chief part of the night she evolved the
most brilliant pictures from the dreams with which she had fed her
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