| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: cheerful hopelessness of temperament that one finds abundantly
developed among the middle-aged women of country towns. She
enjoyed her daily murders in the newspapers, and wept profusely
at the funerals of strangers. On every occasion, however
felicitous, she offered her condolences in a feeble voice, that
seemed to have been washed a great many times and to have
faded. But she was a good manager, a devoted wife, and was more
cheerful at home than elsewhere, for she had there plenty of
trials to exercise her eloquence, and not enough joy to make it
her duty to be doleful. At last her poor, meek, fatiguing voice
faded out altogether, and her husband mourned her as heartily
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: also a handsome mantilla. She held the bonnet before me with a nod,
and deposited it again in the box, which made a part of the luggage
for Newport.
On Sunday morning we arrived in Newport, and went to a quiet
hotel in the town. James was with us, but Mrs. Roll was left in
Bond Street, in charge of the household. Monday was spent in an
endeavor to make an arrangement regarding the hire of a coach and
coachman. Several livery-stable keepers were in attendance, but
nothing was settled, till I suggested that Aunt Eliza should send
for her own carriage. James was sent back the next day, and
returned on Thursday with coach, horses, and William her coachman.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: He informed her that she would never see her sweetheart again; for, in
order to escape the conscription, he had married a rich old woman,
Madame Lehoussais, of Toucques.
The poor girl's sorrow was frightful. She threw herself on the ground,
she cried and called on the Lord, and wandered around desolately until
sunrise. Then she went back to the farm, declared her intention of
leaving, and at the end of the month, after she had received her
wages, she packed all her belongings in a handkerchief and started for
Pont-l'Eveque.
In front of the inn, she met a woman wearing widow's weeds, and upon
questioning her, learned that she was looking for a cook. The girl did
A Simple Soul |
