The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: door, Philippe Goulenoire was able to hide from Cornelius the glance
which he hastily cast about the room. It was wainscoted in oak to the
chair-strip, and the walls above were hung with yellow leather stamped
with black arabesques; but what struck the young man most was a match-
lock pistol with its formidable trigger. This new and terrible weapon
lay close to Cornelius.
"How do you expect to earn your living with me?" said the latter.
"I have but little money," replied Philippe, "but I know good tricks
in business. If you will pay me a sou on every mark I earn for you,
that will satisfy me."
"A sou! a sou!" echoed the miser; "why, that's a good deal!"
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: that in the end six moons or more had gone by before I returned to the
service of the Princess Nandie, and found that Mameena was now the
second wife of the lord Saduko. Also I found that the child of the lady
Nandie was dead, and that Masapo, the first husband of Mameena, had been
smelt out and killed as the murderer of the child. But as all these
things were over and done with, and as Mameena was very kind to me,
giving me gifts and sparing me tasks, and as I saw that Saduko my lord
loved her much, it never came into my head to say anything of the matter
of the powder that I saw her sprinkle on the mat.
"After she had run away with the Prince who is dead, however, I did tell
the lady Nandie. Moreover, the lady Nandie, in my presence, searched in
 Child of Storm |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: remember as one of the most satisfactory books I have ever read.
Beyond Chicago we were under the protection of a friendly passenger
conductor, who knew all about the country to which we were going
and gave us a great deal of advice in exchange for our confidence.
He seemed to us an experienced and worldly man who had been
almost everywhere; in his conversation he threw out lightly
the names of distant states and cities. He wore the rings and pins
and badges of different fraternal orders to which he belonged.
Even his cuff-buttons were engraved with hieroglyphics, and he was
more inscribed than an Egyptian obelisk.
Once when he sat down to chat, he told us that in the immigrant
 My Antonia |