| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: away by his excitement, disclosed his regret at the non-arrival
of the English, "who knew how to develop a rich country," as he
expressed it. There was a general laugh amongst the Dutch
officers at that unsophisticated statement, and a move was made
towards the boats; but when Almayer, stepping cautiously on the
rotten boards of the Lingard jetty, tried to approach the chief
of the Commission with some timid hints anent the protection
required by the Dutch subject against the wily Arabs, that salt
water diplomat told him significantly that the Arabs were better
subjects than Hollanders who dealt illegally in gunpowder with
the Malays. The innocent Almayer recognised there at once the
 Almayer's Folly |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: up. I'll see to the doors. Now skip!"
For many minutes, for many hours, for a bleak eternity, he lay awake,
shivering, reduced to primitive terror, comprehending that he had won freedom,
and wondering what he could do with anything so unknown and so embarrassing as
freedom.
CHAPTER X
No apartment-house in Zenith had more resolutely experimented in condensation
than the Revelstoke Arms, in which Paul and Zilla Riesling had a flat. By
sliding the beds into low closets the bedrooms were converted into
living-rooms. The kitchens were cupboards each containing an electric range, a
copper sink, a glass refrigerator, and, very intermittently, a Balkan maid.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry: are wisest. They are the magi.
End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.
 The Gift of the Magi |