| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Jolly Corner by Henry James: reasons, to leave the place empty, under a simple arrangement with
a good woman living in the neighbourhood and who came for a daily
hour to open windows and dust and sweep. Spencer Brydon had his
reasons and was growingly aware of them; they seemed to him better
each time he was there, though he didn't name them all to his
companion, any more than he told her as yet how often, how quite
absurdly often, he himself came. He only let her see for the
present, while they walked through the great blank rooms, that
absolute vacancy reigned and that, from top to bottom, there was
nothing but Mrs. Muldoon's broomstick, in a corner, to tempt the
burglar. Mrs. Muldoon was then on the premises, and she
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: party, master of construction, and captain of the craft.
The floods went down rapidly while the boat was building, and
when they tried to sail their new craft it stuck midway across
the dam of Rutledge's mill at New Salem, a village of fifteen or
twenty houses not many miles from their starting-point. With its
bow high in air, and its stern under water, it looked like some
ungainly fish trying to fly, or some bird making an unsuccessful
attempt to swim. The voyagers appeared to have suffered
irreparable shipwreck at the very outset of their venture, and
men and women came down from their houses to offer advice or to
make fun of the young boatmen as they waded about in the water,
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: "He is there! my son! the son of Marie Michon! But I must
see him instantly."
"Take care, madame," said Athos, "for he knows neither his
father nor his mother."
"You have kept the secret! you have brought him to see me,
thinking to make me happy. Oh, thanks! sir, thanks!" cried
Madame de Chevreuse, seizing his hand and trying to put it
to her lips; "you have a noble heart."
"I bring him to you, madame," said Athos, withdrawing his
hand, "hoping that in your turn you will do something for
him; till now I have watched over his education and I have
Twenty Years After |
