| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: May, 1849, patented a device for lifting vessels over shoals,
which had evidently been dormant in his mind since the days of
his early Mississippi River experiences. The little model of a
boat, whittled out with his own hand, that he sent to the Patent
Office when he filed his application, is still shown to visitors,
though the invention itself failed to bring about any change in
steamboat architecture.
In work and study time slipped away. He was the same cheery
companion as of old, much sought after by his friends, but now
more often to be found in his office surrounded by law-books and
papers than had been the case before his term in Congress. His
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: Mercury. The Colonel gave her his arm, and the talk between this
pair of conspirators ran high and lively. The Countess, indeed, was
in a whirl of pleasure and excitement; her tongue stumbled upon
laughter, her eyes shone, the colour that was usually wanting now
perfected her face. It would have taken little more to bring Gordon
to her feet - or so, at least, she believed, disdaining the idea.
Hidden among some lilac bushes, she enjoyed the great decorum of the
arrest, and heard the dialogue of the two men die away along the
path. Soon after, the rolling of a carriage and the beat of hoofs
arose in the still air of the night, and passed speedily farther and
fainter into silence. The Prince was gone.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: the sunshine and peculiar glory of Campbell Hall shining in the
window.
"Wake up, Original Sin, and scrape yourself together. Be in front
of Renwick's in half an hour. Somebody's got a car." He took the
bureau cover and carefully deposited it, with its load of small
articles, upon the bed.
"Where'd you get the car?" demanded Amory cynically.
"Sacred trust, but don't be a critical goopher or you can't go!"
"I think I'll sleep," Amory said calmly, resettling himself and
reaching beside the bed for a cigarette.
"Sleep!"
This Side of Paradise |
