| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Summer by Edith Wharton: return of the crowds from the ball-field. The shadows
lengthened across the pearl-grey water and two white
clouds near the sun were turning golden. On the
opposite shore men were hammering hastily at a wooden
scaffolding in a field. Charity asked what it was for.
"Why, the fireworks. I suppose there'll be a big
show." Harney looked at her and a smile crept into his
moody eyes. "Have you never seen any good fireworks?"
"Miss Hatchard always sends up lovely rockets on the
Fourth," she answered doubtfully.
"Oh----" his contempt was unbounded. "I mean a big
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: him. Then he broke into another laugh.
"Why, this is glorious! You murdered him, did you? To inherit
his money, I suppose? Better and better! Go on, my boy!
Unbosom yourself! Tell me all about it! Confession is good for
the soul."
Granice waited till the lawyer had shaken the last peal of
laughter from his throat; then he repeated doggedly: "I murdered
him."
The two men looked at each other for a long moment, and this time
Ascham did not laugh.
"Granice!"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: sense of form could struggle through the monstrous multitudinous
books that the world has produced, books in which thought stammers
or ignorance brawls? The thread that is to guide us across the
wearisome labyrinth is in the hands of Criticism. Nay more, where
there is no record, and history is either lost, or was never
written, Criticism can re-create the past for us from the very
smallest fragment of language or art, just as surely as the man of
science can from some tiny bone, or the mere impress of a foot upon
a rock, re-create for us the winged dragon or Titan lizard that
once made the earth shake beneath its tread, can call Behemoth out
of his cave, and make Leviathan swim once more across the startled
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