| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: not merely the remembrance but the vivid image of what might have
been. Involuntarily he recalled a lady he knew who had been a
favourite of the Emperor's, but had afterwards married and become
an admirable wife and mother. The husband had a high position,
influence and honour, and a good and penitent wife.
In his better hours Kasatsky was not disturbed by such thoughts,
and when he recalled them at such times he was merely glad to
feel that the temptation was past. But there were moments when
all that made up his present life suddenly grew dim before him,
moments when, if he did not cease to believe in the aims he had
set himself, he ceased to see them and could evoke no confidence
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Wieroo looked relieved. "It is well for the girl that
this is so," it said, "for now only you will have to die."
And stepping to the door the creature raised its voice in
one of those uncanny, depressing wails.
The Englishman looked toward the girl. "Shall I kill it?" he
asked, half drawing his pistol. "What is best to do?--I do not
wish to endanger you."
The Wieroo backed toward the door. "Defiler!" it screamed.
"You dare to threaten one of the sacred chosen of Luata!"
"Do not kill him," cried the girl, "for then there could be no
hope for you. That you are here, alive, shows that they may not
Out of Time's Abyss |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: gave a strong personality to his style, a quality that his early
work certainly lacked. In a note to the LIFE OF DICKENS, Forster
mentions that in 1847 Lady Blessington received from her brother,
Major Power, who held a military appointment at Hobart Town, an oil
portrait of a young lady from his clever brush; and it is said that
'he had contrived to put the expression of his own wickedness into
the portrait of a nice, kind-hearted girl.' M. Zola, in one of his
novels, tells us of a young man who, having committed a murder,
takes to art, and paints greenish impressionist portraits of
perfectly respectable people, all of which bear a curious
resemblance to his victim. The development of Mr. Wainewright's
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