| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: perfunctorily, in the evening service. With my husband, prayer,
the direct appeal, was a necessity. When he was happy he felt
impelled to offer thanks for that undeserved joy; when in sorrow,
or pain, to call for strength to bear what must be borne.
Vailima lay up some three miles of continual rise from Apia, and
more than half that distance from the nearest village. It was a
long way for a tired man to walk down every evening with the sole
purpose of joining in family worship; and the road through the bush
was dark, and, to the Samoan imagination, beset with supernatural
terrors. Wherefore, as soon as our household had fallen into a
regular routine, and the bonds of Samoan family life began to draw
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: entrance, and is called Cape Disappointment. The pinnace was then
manned, and two of the partners, Mr. David Stuart and Mr. M'Kay,
set off in the hope of learning something of the fate of the
whaleboat. The surf, however, broke with such violence along the
shore that they could find no landing place. Several of the
natives appeared on the beach and made signs to them to row round
the cape, but they thought it most prudent to return to the ship.
The wind now springing up, the Tonquin got under way, and stood
in to seek the channel; but was again deterred by the frightful
aspect of the breakers, from venturing within a league. Here she
hove to; and Mr. Mumford, the second mate, was despatched with
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: was bound on a love-errand of Evelina's, and the knowledge seemed
to dry the last drop of young blood in her veins. It took from
her, too, all her faded virginal shyness; and with a brisk
composure she turned the handle of the clock-maker's door.
But as she entered her heart began to tremble, for she saw Mr.
Ramy, his face hidden in his hands, sitting behind the counter in
an attitude of strange dejection. At the click of the latch he
looked up slowly, fixing a lustreless stare on Ann Eliza. For a
moment she thought he did not know her.
"Oh, you're sick!" she exclaimed; and the sound of her voice
seemed to recall his wandering senses.
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