| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: the quiet man beside me? He left me with a bow before the concert
was over, and I saw him making his way out of the hall when it was
finished.
I had been sent in the carriage, of course; but several carriages
were in advance of it before the walk, and I waited there for
William to drive up. When he did so, I saw by the oscillatory
motion of his head, though his arms and whiphand were perfectly
correct, that he was inebriated. It was his first occasion of
meeting fellow-coachmen in full dress, and the occasion had proved
too much for him. My hand, however, was on the coach door, when I
heard Mr. Uxbridge say, at my elbow,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: Higher up it was worse; but your men left a good deal of goat meat
hanging on the bushes in the camps. Here's your hundred dollars.
You're nearly there now, captain. Let me in on the scrapping
to-morrow.'
"'Not for a hundred times a hundred would I have the tiniest thing go
wrong with my plans now,' I said, "whether caused by evil planets or
the blunders of mere man. But yonder is Aguas Frias, five miles away,
and a clear road. I am of the mind to defy Saturn and all his
satellites to spoil our success now. At any rate, I will not turn away
to-night as weary a traveller and as good a soldier as you are,
Lieutenant Kearny. Manuel Ortiz's tent is there by the brightest fire.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The House of Dust by Conrad Aiken: Whether you saw it fall. . . These things, together,
With other things, still slighter, wove to music,
And this in time drew up dark memories;
And there I stand. This music breaks and bleeds me,
Turning all frustrate dreams to chords and discords,
Faces and griefs, and words, and sunlit evenings,
And chains self-forged that will not break nor lengthen,
And cries that none can answer, few will hear.
Have these things meaning? Or would you see more clearly
If I should say 'My second wife grows tedious,
Or, like gay tulip, keeps no perfumed secret'?
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