| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather: and powerful, and that it wrung and tortured him.
Sometimes it came upon him softly, in enervating reveries.
Sometimes it battered him like the cannon rolling in the
hold of the vessel. Always, now, it brought with it
a sense of quickened life, of stimulating danger.
To-night it came upon him suddenly, as he was
walking the floor, after his wife left him.
It seemed impossible; he could not believe it.
He glanced entreatingly at the door, as if to
call her back. He heard voices in the hall below,
and knew that he must go down. Going over to the window,
Alexander's Bridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: Lord do so to me and more also, if ought but death part me and
thee.' "
Their eyes met. There was a long pause. Suddenly the sharp,
sweet notes of the church bell brought John Douglas to his feet
with a start of surprise.
"Have you got to go?" Polly asked regretfully.
"Yes, I must; but I'll read the rest from the church. Open the
window, Mandy!" And he passed out of the door and quickly down
the stairs.
Chapter VI
WHEN John Douglas's uncle offered to educate his nephew for the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: the wealth of her nature in obedience to social conventions; she
was ready to brave society, yet she hesitated till her scruples
degenerated into artifice. With more wilfulness than real force
of character, impressionable rather than enthusiastic, gifted
with more brain than heart; she was supremely a woman, supremely
a coquette, and above all things a Parisienne, loving a brilliant
life and gaiety, reflecting never, or too late; imprudent to the
verge of poetry, and humble in the depths of her heart, in spite
of her charming insolence. Like some straight-growing reed, she
made a show of independence; yet, like the reed, she was ready to
bend to a strong hand. She talked much of religion, and had it
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