| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: then she sighed and continued: 'But to tell you the truth, ma'am,
I don't like master's ways of going on.'
'What do you mean, Rachel? He's going on very properly at
present.'
'Well, ma'am, if you think so, it's right.'
And she went on dressing my hair, in a hurried way, quite unlike
her usual calm, collected manner, murmuring, half to herself, she
was sure it was beautiful hair: she 'could like to see 'em match
it.' When it was done, she fondly stroked it, and gently patted my
head.
'Is that affectionate ebullition intended for my hair, or myself,
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: men lived to make money; and I was obtuse to the hints he was
throwing out at the possibilities of his own potbank, not willfully
obtuse, but just failing to penetrate his meaning. Whatever City
Merchants had or had not done for me, Flack, Topham and old Gates
had certainly barred my mistaking the profitable production and sale
of lavatory basins and bathroom fittings for the highest good. It
was only upon reflection that it dawned upon me that the splendid
chance for a young fellow with my uncle, "me, having no son of my
own," was anything but an illustration for comparison with my own
chosen career.
I still remember very distinctly my uncle's talk,--he loved to speak
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: "New York State," said Shark Dodson, sitting
down on a boulder and chewing a twig. "I was born
on a farm in Ulster County. I ran away from home
when I was seventeen. It was an accident my coming
West. I was walkin' along the road with my clothes in
a bundle, makin' for New York City. I had an idea of
goin' there and makin' lots of money. I always felt like
I could do it. I came to a place one evenin' where the
road forked and I didn't know which fork to take. I
studied about it for half an hour, and then I took the left-
hand. That night I run into the camp of a Wild West
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