| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: have rain. ... Where did I get that word? ... I remember now--
the new creature uses it.
Tuesday
Been examining the great waterfall. It is the finest thing on the
estate, I think. The new creature calls it Niagara Falls--why,
I am sure I do not know. Says it looks like Niagara Falls. That
is not a reason; it is mere waywardness and imbecility. I get no
chance to name anything myself. The new creature names everything
that comes along, before I can get in a protest. And always that
same pretext is offered--it looks like the thing. There is the
dodo, for instance. Says the moment one looks at it one sees at
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: of the sun were not so hot as when reflected by the surface of the water.
He could see the dark clouds rolling beneath him like volumes of smoke
from a factory chimney, and knew the earth was catching a severe
shower of rain; yet he congratulated himself on his foresight in not
being burdened with umbrella or raincoat, since his elevated position
rendered him secure from rain-clouds.
But, having cut himself off from the earth, there remained nothing to
see except the clear sky overhead and the tumbling clouds beneath; so
he took from his pocket the Automatic Record of Events, and watched
with breathless interest the incidents occurring in different parts of
the world. A big battle was being fought in the Philippines, and so
The Master Key |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: He was unsatisfactory, for the only moment since I had
known him. Nevertheless, now that I held the little picture
in my hand I felt that it would be a precious possession.
"Is this a bribe to make me give up the papers?"
I demanded in a moment, perversely. "Much as I value it,
if I were to be obliged to choose, the papers are what I
should prefer. Ah, but ever so much!"
"How can you choose--how can you choose?" Miss Tita
asked, slowly, lamentably.
"I see! Of course there is nothing to be said, if you regard
the interdiction that rests upon you as quite insurmountable.
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