| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: "Oh, we don't complain," answered Trina.
"Plenty of money, lots to do, everything fine, hey?"
"We've got lots to do," returned Trina, thinking to head him
off, "but we've not got lots of money."
But evidently Marcus wanted no money.
"Well, Cousin Trina," he said, rubbing his knee, "I'm going
away."
"Yes, mamma wrote me; you're going on a ranch."
"I'm going in ranching with an English duck," corrected
Marcus. "Mr. Sieppe has fixed things. We'll see if we can't
raise some cattle. I know a lot about horses, and he's
 McTeague |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: surmounted with a flaunting fox's tail; and when the folks at a
country gathering descried this well-known crest at a distance,
whisking about among a squad of hard riders, they always stood by
for a squall. Sometimes his crew would be heard dashing along
past the farmhouses at midnight, with whoop and halloo, like a
troop of Don Cossacks; and the old dames, startled out of their
sleep, would listen for a moment till the hurry-scurry had
clattered by, and then exclaim, "Ay, there goes Brom Bones
and his gang!" The neighbors looked upon him with a mixture
of awe, admiration, and good-will; and, when any madcap prank
or rustic brawl occurred in the vicinity, always shook their
 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: man is my brother's close friend, and was my own intimate
acquaintance (for a few short months at least), and professed a
great attachment to my boy - and when he passes the house, so many
scores of miles from his home, he declines to look in for fear of
intruding!'
'Mr. Markham is over-modest,' observed Mrs. Maxwell.
'Over-ceremonious rather,' said her niece - 'over - well, it's no
matter.' And turning from me, she seated herself in a chair beside
the table, and pulling a book to her by the cover, began to turn
over the leaves in an energetic kind of abstraction.
'If I had known,' said I, 'that you would have honoured me by
 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |