| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: husband, if you ever have another. Do, then, Grace, give him some
temporary encouragement, even though it is over-early. For when I
consider the past I do think God will forgive me and you for being
a little forward. I have another reason for this, my dear. I
feel myself going rapidly downhill, and late affairs have still
further helped me that way. And until this thing is done I cannot
rest in peace."
He added a postscript:
"I have just heard that the solicitor is to be seen to-morrow.
Possibly, therefore, I shall return in the evening after you get
this."
The Woodlanders |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: at our own table, [our landlady looked radiant,] and the company is
so pleasant [a rustling movement of satisfaction among the
boarders]; but if I did partake of a man's salt, with such
additions as that article of food requires to make it palatable, I
could never abuse him, and if I had to speak of him, I suppose I
should hang my set of jingling epithets round him like a string of
sleigh-bells. Good feeling helps society to make liars of most of
us, - not absolute liars, but such careless handlers of truth that
its sharp corners get terribly rounded. I love truth as chiefest
among the virtues; I trust it runs in my blood; but I would never
be a critic, because I know I could not always tell it. I might
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Herland by Charlotte Gilman: We had learned by this time not to open a discussion on any
of their characteristics without first priming ourselves to answer
questions about our own methods; so I kept rather quiet on this
matter of conscious improvement. We were not prepared to show
our way was better.
There was growing in our minds, at least in Jeff's and mine,
a keen appreciation of the advantages of this strange country and
its management. Terry remained critical. We laid most of it to his
nerves. He certainly was irritable.
The most conspicuous feature of the whole land was the
perfection of its food supply. We had begun to notice from that
Herland |
