The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Great disorder consisting of the following items: (1) seven or
eight empty cardboard boxes, with tissue-paper tongues hanging
panting from their mouths; (2) an assortment of street dresses
mingled with their sisters of the evening, all upon the table,
all evidently new; (3) a roll of tulle, which has lost its
dignity and wound itself tortuously around everything in sight,
and (4) upon the two small chairs, a collection of lingerie that
beggars description. One would enjoy seeing the bill called forth
by the finery displayed and one is possessed by a desire to see
the princess for whose benefit Look! There's some one!
Disappointment! This is only a maid hunting for something she
 This Side of Paradise |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The White Moll by Frank L. Packard: Still receiving no reply, she tried the door, found it unlocked,
and, opening it, stood for an instant on the threshold. A lamp,
almost empty, ill-trimmed and smoking badly, stood on a chair
beside a cheap iron bed; it threw a dull, yellow glow about its
immediate vicinity, and threw the remainder of the garret into
deep, impenetrable shadows; but also it disclosed the motionless
form of a woman on the bed.
Rhoda Gray's eyes darkened, as she closed the door behind her,
and stepped quickly forward to the bedside. For a moment she
stood looking down at the recumbent figure; at the matted tangle
of gray-streaked brown hair that straggled across a pillow which
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: of boon companions, with half-shut eyes, hats on one side, pipe
in mouth, and tankard in hand, fondling, and prosing, and
singing maudlin songs over their liquor. Even the sober
decorum of private families, which I must say is rigidly kept up
at other times among my neighbors, is no proof against this
Saturnalia. There is no such thing as keeping maid-servants
within doors. Their brains are absolutely set madding with
Punch and the Puppet Show; the Flying Horses; Signior Polito;
the Fire-Eater; the celebrated Mr. Paap; and the Irish Giant.
The children, too, lavish all their holiday money in toys and
gilt
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