| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: But the eyes of a brave man are the king of weapons. Hardman's
fingers itched at the trigger he had not the courage to pull. For
such an unflawed nerve he knew himself no match.
"Keep back," he screamed. "Damn it, another step and I'll fire!"
But he did not fire, though Collins rode up to him, dismounted,
and threw the end of the rifle carelessly from him.
"Don't be rash, Hardman. I've come here to put you under arrest
for robbing the T. P. Limited, and I'm going to do it."
The indolent, contemptuous drawl, so free of even a suggestion of
the strain the sheriff must have been under, completed his
victory. The fellow lowered his rifle with a peevish oath.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: "Now thou art a right merry soul," quoth the Sheriff, "and I wot thou
must have many a head of horned beasts and many an acre of land,
that thou dost spend thy money so freely."
"Ay, that have I," quoth Robin, laughing loudly again, "five hundred
and more horned beasts have I and my brothers, and none of them
have we been able to sell, else I might not have turned butcher.
As for my land, I have never asked my steward how many acres I have."
At this the Sheriff's eyes twinkled, and he chuckled to himself.
"Nay, good youth," quoth he, "if thou canst not sell thy cattle,
it may be I will find a man that will lift them from thy hands;
perhaps that man may be myself, for I love a merry youth and would
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: judgment, Loudon," he would say. "All that I do is to give you
the figures; but whatever operation you take up must be upon
your own responsibility, and whatever you earn will be entirely
due to your own dash and forethought." For all that, it was
always clear what he intended me to do, and I was always
careful to do it. Inside of a month I was at the head of
seventeen or eighteen thousand dollars, college paper. And
here I fell a victim to one of the vices of the system. The paper
(I have already explained) had a real value of one per cent; and
cost, and could be sold for, currency. Unsuccessful speculators
were thus always selling clothes, books, banjos, and sleeve-
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