| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: woodshed as he passed. He went in again, wondering; the sound was
so peculiar that the moment he heard it it called up the image of
the willow wand striking the door. He could not help a little
shudder, as he remembered how often his mother had told him of
just such a sound coming as a sign when some one was dying. Adam
was not a man to be gratuitously superstitious, but he had the
blood of the peasant in him as well as of the artisan, and a
peasant can no more help believing in a traditional superstition
than a horse can help trembling when he sees a camel. Besides, he
had that mental combination which is at once humble in the region
of mystery and keen in the region of knowledge: it was the depth
Adam Bede |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: Fire-Spirits looked upon her angrily, and when she begged them
to be merciful, and let her try once more, saying,--
"Do not keep me prisoner here. I cannot breathe the flames that
give you life, and but for this snow-mantle I too should melt away,
and vanish like the jewels in your hands. O dear Spirits, give me
some other task, but let me go from this warm place, where all is
strange and fearful to a Spirit of the sea."
They would not listen; and drew nearer, saying, while bright sparks
showered from their lips, "We will not let you go, for you have
promised to be ours if the gems you brought proved worthless; so fling
away this cold white cloak, and bathe with us in the fire fountains,
Flower Fables |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: "Oh, you know her?"
"Yes," said Newman, "I know her. I don't believe you do."
"Oh dear, yes, I do!" said Lord Deepmere, with another grin.
"I knew her in Paris--by my poor cousin Bellegarde you know.
He knew her, poor fellow, didn't he? It was she you know,
who was at the bottom of his affair. Awfully sad, wasn't it?"
continued the young man, talking off his embarrassment as his
simple nature permitted. "They got up some story about its
being for the Pope; about the other man having said something
against the Pope's morals. They always do that, you know.
They put it on the Pope because Bellegarde was once in the Zouaves.
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