| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: plaza, where he knew the precious fluid was to be found
in a half-ruined building opposite the great palace of the
ancient jeddak, who once had ruled this mighty city.
Disheartened and discouraged by the strange sequence
of events that seemed fore-ordained to thwart his every
attempt to serve the Princess of Ptarth, he paid little
or no attention to his surroundings, moving through the
deserted city as though no great white apes lurked in the
black shadows of the mystery-haunted piles that flanked
the broad avenues and the great plaza.
But if Carthoris was careless of his surroundings, not
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: your hat, to brush them; and they'll accompany you to the door of the
salons to open and shut it. I mention this, friend Gazonal," added
Bixiou, slyly, "lest you might think they were after your property,
and cry 'Stop thief!'"
"These salons," said Leon, "are three boudoirs where the director has
collected all the inventions of modern luxury: lambrequins to the
windows, jardinieres everywhere, downy divans where each customer can
wait his turn and read the newspapers. You might suppose, when you
first go in, that five francs would be the least they'd get out of
your waistcoat pocket; but nothing is ever extracted beyond ten sous
for combing and frizzing your hair, or twenty sous for cutting and
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: to look about me, to see the world, to have a good time,
to improve my mind, and, if the fancy takes me, to marry a wife."
Newman spoke slowly, with a certain dryness of accent and with
frequent pauses. This was his habitual mode of utterance,
but it was especially marked in the words I have just quoted.
"Jupiter! There's a programme!" cried Mr. Tristram.
"Certainly, all that takes money, especially the wife;
unless indeed she gives it, as mine did. And what's the story?
How have you done it?"
Newman had pushed his hat back from his forehead, folded his arms,
and stretched his legs. He listened to the music, he looked about him at
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