| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from One Basket by Edna Ferber: quitting time. She went in quest of hat and coat much as the
girl had done whose place she had taken early in the day. The
fat man followed her, protesting. Terry, putting on her hat,
tried to ignore him. But he laid one plump hand on her arm and
kept it there, though she tried to shake him off.
"Now, listen to me. That boy wouldn't mind grinding his heel on
your face if he thought it would bring him up a step. I know'm.
See that walking stick he's carrying? Well, compared to the
yellow stripe that's in him, that cane is a Lead pencil. He's a
song tout, that's all he is." Then, more feverishly, as Terry
tried to pull away: "Wait a minute. You're a decent girl. I
One Basket |
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: twenty-one years old, handsome, accomplished and witty--a dashing
and fascinating figure in dress and conversation. She was the
sister of Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards, whose husband was a prominent
Whig member of the legislature--one of the "Long Nine," as these
men were known. Their added height was said to be fifty-five
feet, and they easily made up in influence what they lacked in
numbers. Lincoln was the "tallest" of them all in body and in
mind, and although as poor as a church mouse, was quite as
welcome anywhere as the men who wore ruffled shirts and could
carry gold watches. Miss Todd soon singled out and held the
admiration of such of the Springfield beaux as pleased her
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Wisely arranges his affairs,
And to his native dale repairs.
The Bristol SWALLOW sets him down
Beside the well-remembered town.
He sighs, he spits, he marks the scene,
Proudly he treads the village green;
And, free from pettiness and rancour,
Takes lodgings at the 'Crown and Anchor.'
Strange, when a man so great and good
Once more in his home-country stood,
Strange that the sordid clowns should show
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