| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: and a portable stove to be heated by spirits of wine.
For the outward journey the wind was as favorable as could be desired;
but it was to be apprehended that, unless the direction of the wind
should change, the return would be a matter of some difficulty;
a system of tacking might be carried out to a certain degree,
but it was not likely that the yawl would answer her helm
in any way corresponding to what would occur in the open sea.
Captain Servadac, however, would not listen to any representation
of probable difficulties; the future, he said, must provide for itself.
The engineer and several of the sailors set vigorously to work,
and before the close of the day the yawl was furnished with a pair
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: admiring, in the tapu system, the ingenuity of native methods of
detection; there is not much to admire in those of the French, and
to lock up a timid child in a dark room, and, if he proved
obstinate, lock up his sister in the next, is neither novel nor
humane.
The main occasion of these thefts is the new vice of opium-eating.
'Here nobody ever works, and all eat opium,' said a gendarme; and
Ah Fu knew a woman who ate a dollar's worth in a day. The
successful thief will give a handful of money to each of his
friends, a dress to a woman, pass an evening in one of the taverns
of Tai-o-hae, during which he treats all comers, produce a big lump
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Call of the Wild by Jack London: his great head on Thornton's knee, Buck was content to adore at a
distance. He would lie by the hour, eager, alert, at Thornton's
feet, looking up into his face, dwelling upon it, studying it,
following with keenest interest each fleeting expression, every
movement or change of feature. Or, as chance might have it, he
would lie farther away, to the side or rear, watching the outlines
of the man and the occasional movements of his body. And often,
such was the communion in which they lived, the strength of Buck's
gaze would draw John Thornton's head around, and he would return
the gaze, without speech, his heart shining out of his eyes as
Buck's heart shone out.
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