| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: possession. But for two circumstances, I should have thought I had
been awakened by some new and vivid form of nightmare. First, the
flap of my tent, which I had shut carefully when I retired, was now
unfastened; and, second, I could still perceive, with a sharpness
that excluded any theory of hallucination, the smell of hot metal
and of burning oil. The conclusion was obvious. I had been
wakened by some one flashing a bull's-eye lantern in my face. It
had been but a flash, and away. He had seen my face, and then
gone. I asked myself the object of so strange a proceeding, and
the answer came pat. The man, whoever he was, had thought to
recognise me, and he had not. There was yet another question
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: newspapers of the period. In the first place he exhibited the
character and life of Michu in its true light. He made it a noble
tale, ringing with lofty sentiments, and it awakened the sympathies of
many. When Michu heard himself vindicated by that eloquent voice,
tears sprang from his yellow eyes and rolled down his terrible face.
He appeared then for what he really was,--a man as simple and as wily
as a child; a being whose whole existence had but one thought, one
aim. He was suddenly explained to the minds of all present, more
especially by his tears, which produced a great effect upon the jury.
His able defender seized that moment of strong interest to enter upon
a discussion of the charges:--
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: submitting to poverty when he does not feel it,
and by boasting his contempt of riches when he has
already more than he enjoys. He who would shew
the extent of his views, and grandeur of his
conceptions, or discover his acquaintance with
splendour and magnificence, may talk like Cowley, of an
humble station and quiet obscurity, of the paucity
of nature's wants, and the inconveniences of superfluity,
and at last, like him, limit his desires to five
hundred pounds a year; a fortune, indeed, not
exuberant, when we compare it with the expenses of
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