| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: of the ship, I observed that the rope side ladder, put over, no doubt,
for the master of the tug when he came to fetch away our letters,
had not been hauled in as it should have been. I became annoyed at this,
for exactitude in some small matters is the very soul of discipline.
Then I reflected that I had myself peremptorily dismissed my
officers from duty, and by my own act had prevented the anchor
watch being formally set and things properly attended to.
I asked myself whether it was wise ever to interfere with the
established routine of duties even from the kindest of motives.
My action might have made me appear eccentric. Goodness only knew
how that absurdly whiskered mate would "account" for my conduct,
The Secret Sharer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Death of the Lion by Henry James: single one - the question of reconstituting so far as might be
possible the conditions under which he had produced his best work.
Such conditions could never all come back, for there was a new one
that took up too much place; but some perhaps were not beyond
recall. I wanted above all things to see him sit down to the
subject he had, on my making his acquaintance, read me that
admirable sketch of. Something told me there was no security but
in his doing so before the new factor, as we used to say at Mr.
Pinhorn's, should render the problem incalculable. It only half-
reassured me that the sketch itself was so copious and so eloquent
that even at the worst there would be the making of a small but
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Summer by Edith Wharton: sodden look as Bash Hyatt's, the day she had seen him
sleeping by the stove. He made no effort to silence
the dogs, but leaned in the door, as if roused from a
drunken lethargy, while Mr. Miles got out of the buggy.
"Is it here?" the clergyman asked Liff in a low voice;
and Liff nodded.
Mr. Miles turned to Charity. "Just hold the horse a
minute, my dear: I'll go in first," he said, putting
the reins in her hands. She took them passively, and
sat staring straight ahead of her at the darkening
scene while Mr. Miles and Liff Hyatt went up to the
|
