| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: horsemanship, being as dexterous on horseback as a Tartar. He was
foremost at all races and cock fights; and, with the ascendancy
which bodily strength always acquires in rustic life, was the
umpire in all disputes, setting his hat on one side, and giving
his decisions with an air and tone that admitted of no gainsay or
appeal. He was always ready for either a fight or a frolic; but
had more mischief than ill-will in his composition; and with all
his overbearing roughness, there was a strong dash of waggish
good humor at bottom. He had three or four boon companions, who
regarded him as their model, and at the head of whom he scoured
the country, attending every scene of feud or merriment for
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: to see if it fitted comfortably.
"Do you consider this horse wants a curb?" he said to the hostler.
"Well," said the man, "I should say he would go just as well without;
he has an uncommon good mouth, and though he has a fine spirit
he has no vice; but we generally find people like the curb."
"I don't like it," said the gentleman; "be so good as to take it off,
and put the rein in at the cheek. An easy mouth is a great thing
on a long journey, is it not, old fellow?" he said, patting my neck.
Then he took the reins, and they both got up. I can remember now
how quietly he turned me round, and then with a light feel of the rein,
and drawing the whip gently across my back, we were off.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: "Give it another six months and it'll be talking about itself," he
declared. "It's pretty nearly articulate now."
"Can it say papa?" someone else inquired.
Dinslow's smile broadened. "You'll be deuced glad to say papa to
IT a year from now," he retorted. "It'll be able to support even
you in affluence. Look here, now, just let me explain to you--"
Glennard moved away impatiently. The men at the club--all but
those who were "in it"--were proverbially "tired" of Dinslow's
patent, and none more so than Glennard, whose knowledge of its
merits made it loom large in the depressing catalogue of lost
opportunities. The relations between the two men had always been
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