| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: piece was one he had brought from Nantes.
"'I am glad of it,' said Pierre; 'now prove it.'
"'I had it all along.'
"'You did not take the gold piece belonging to your mother?'
"'No.'
"'Will you swear it on your eternal life?'
"He was about to swear; his mother raised her eyes to him, and said:--
"'Jacques, my child, take care; do not swear if it is not true; you
can repent, you can amend; there is still time.'
"And she wept.
"'You are a this and a that,' he said; 'you have always wanted to ruin
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: has become serious truth; he has already half forgotten. We might
have expected, in the beginning, that one of two things would
happen: either he would become a plodding Quaker farmer or take to
his present courses. Which would be worse, when this life is
over,--if that time ever comes?"
Sylvia sighed, and there was a weariness in her voice which did not
escape her father's ear. He walked up and down the room with a
troubled air. She sat down, took the guitar upon her lap, and
began to sing the verse, commencing, "Erin, my country, though sad
and forsaken," when--perhaps opportunely--Susan Donnelly entered
the room.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: gates of a singular architecture, bridges half hid in the midst
of bamboos and reeds, temples shaded by immense cedar-trees,
holy retreats where were sheltered Buddhist priests and sectaries
of Confucius, and interminable streets, where a perfect harvest of
rose-tinted and red-cheeked children, who looked as if they had been
cut out of Japanese screens, and who were playing in the midst
of short-legged poodles and yellowish cats, might have been gathered.
The streets were crowded with people. Priests were passing
in processions, beating their dreary tambourines; police and
custom-house officers with pointed hats encrusted with lac and
carrying two sabres hung to their waists; soldiers, clad in blue
 Around the World in 80 Days |