| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: that place, but I counted two hundred and forty finished cans
made from the catch of the previous night ere I left the
slippery, blood-stained, scale-spangled, oily floors and the
offal-smeared Chinamen.
We reached Portland, California and I crying for salmon, and a
real-estate man, to whom we had been intrusted by an insurance
man, met us in the street, saying that fifteen miles away, across
country, we should come upon a place called Clackamas, where we
might per-chance find what we desired. And California, his
coat-tails flying in the wind, ran to a livery-stable and
chartered a wagon and team forthwith. I could push the wagon
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: lifted up his troubled face with a faint smile of pathetic
indulgence. This smile of the worthy descendant of the most
ancient sea-folk whose audacity and hardihood had left no trace of
greatness and glory upon the waters, completed the cycle of my
initiation. There was an infinite depth of hereditary wisdom in
its pitying sadness. It made the hearty bursts of cheering sound
like a childish noise of triumph. Our crew shouted with immense
confidence - honest souls! As if anybody could ever make sure of
having prevailed against the sea, which has betrayed so many ships
of great "name," so many proud men, so many towering ambitions of
fame, power, wealth, greatness!
The Mirror of the Sea |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: hills. The miscreants flung a few defiant shots at the advancing
cowmen, and disappeared, swallowed up in the earth swells.
The homeward march was a slow one, for Bannister had begun to
show signs of consciousness and it was necessary to carry him
with extreme care. While they were still a mile from the ranch
house the pinto and its rider could be seen loping toward them.
"Ride forward, Denver, and tell Miss Helen we're coming. Better
have her get everything fixed to doctor him soon as we get there.
Give him the best show in the world, and he'll still be sailing
awful close to the divide. I'll bet a hundred plunks he'll cash
in, anyway."
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