| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: nor chests with iron bands. Moreover it was possible, it was perhaps
even probable that the old lady had consigned her relics to her bedroom,
to some battered box that was shoved under the bed, to the drawer of some
lame dressing table, where they would be in the range of vision by the dim
night lamp. Nonetheless I scrutinized every article of furniture,
every conceivable cover for a hoard, and noticed that there were half
a dozen things with drawers, and in particular a tall old secretary,
with brass ornaments of the style of the Empire--a receptacle
somewhat rickety but still capable of keeping a great many secrets.
I don't know why this article fascinated me so, inasmuch as I certainly
had no definite purpose of breaking into it; but I stared at it so hard
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: sickly-looking woman and seldom expressed an opinion.
"Well, that might have been," agreed Abby, "although Eudora
always had the name of having a beautiful disposition."
"I have always found," said Mrs. Joseph Glynn, with an air of
wisdom, "that it is the beautiful dispositions which are the most
set the minute they get a start the wrong way. It is the
always-flying-out people who are the easiest to get on with in
the long run."
"Well," said Abby, "maybe that is so, but folks might get worn
all to a frazzle by the flying-out ones before the long run. I'd
rather take my chances with a woman like Eudora. She always seems
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: rushes down from all parts of the forest behind Montegnac, from those
great slopes which are back of the hills on which you have your park.
All the water of these mountains pours into this valley and makes a
deluge. Luckily for you, the trees hold the earth; otherwise the land
would slide into the valley."
"Where are the springs?" asked Madame Graslin, giving her full
attention to what he said.
Farrabesche pointed to a narrow gorge which seemed to end the valley
just below his house. "They are mostly on a clay plateau lying between
the Limousin and the Correze; they are mere green pools during the
summer, and lose themselves in the soil. No one lives in that
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