| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Red Inn by Honore de Balzac: is always delightful to our languid senses; it increases their
negative happiness. I, a seeker after impressions, admired the faces
about me, enlivened by smiles, beaming in the light of the wax
candles, and somewhat flushed by our late good cheer; their diverse
expressions producing piquant effects seen among the porcelain
baskets, the fruits, the glasses, and the candelabra.
All of a sudden my imagination was caught by the aspect of a guest who
sat directly in front of me. He was a man of medium height, rather fat
and smiling, having the air and manner of a stock-broker, and
apparently endowed with a very ordinary mind. Hitherto I had scarcely
noticed him, but now his face, possibly darkened by a change in the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: attempt to run away from me, but stood to be saddled,
and plunged boldly into the swift water where
I told him to. Merely he thought it disrespectful in
me to ride him without his proper harness. He was
the pet of the camp.
As near as I could make out, he had but one fault.
He was altogether too sensitive about his hind quarters,
and would jump like a rabbit if anything touched
him there.
Wes rode a horse we called Old Slob. Wes, be
it premised, was an interesting companion. He had
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: had not a single objection to start. His pleasing
manners and good sense were self-evident recommendations;
and having never heard evil of him, it was not their way
to suppose any evil could be told. Goodwill supplying the
place of experience, his character needed no attestation.
"Catherine would make a sad, heedless young housekeeper
to be sure," was her mother's foreboding remark; but quick
was the consolation of there being nothing like practice.
There was but one obstacle, in short, to be mentioned;
but till that one was removed, it must be impossible for
them to sanction the engagement. Their tempers were mild,
Northanger Abbey |
