| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy: which makes a beautiful woman conscious of her powers long to bring to
her knees the one man who pays her no homage. She stretched out her
hand to him.
"Nay, Sir Percy, why not? the present is not so glorious but
that I should not wish to dwell a little in the past."
He bent his tall figure, and taking hold of the extreme tip of
the fingers which she still held out to him, he kissed them
ceremoniously.
"I' faith, Madame," he said, "then you will pardon me, if my
dull wits cannot accompany you there."
Once again he attempted to go, once more her voice, sweet,
 The Scarlet Pimpernel |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: gifts for their children in honor of the happy event.
Perhaps you will now understand how, in spite of the bigness of the
world, Santa Claus is able to supply all the children with beautiful
gifts. To be sure, the old gentleman is rarely seen in these days;
but it is not because he tries to keep out of sight, I assure you.
Santa Claus is the same loving friend of children that in the old days
used to play and romp with them by the hour; and I know he would love
to do the same now, if he had the time. But, you see, he is so busy
all the year making toys, and so hurried on that one night when he
visits our homes with his packs, that he comes and goes among us like
a flash; and it is almost impossible to catch a glimpse of him.
 The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: over their soda straws, and casting their eyes upward at Eddie.
They all knew the trick, and its value, so that at night Eddie's
dreams were haunted by whole rows of rosily pursed lips, and seas
of upturned, adoring eyes. Of course we all noticed that on those
rare occasions when Josie Morehouse came into Kunz's her glass was
heaped higher with ice cream than that of any of the other girls,
and that Eddie's usually easy flow of talk was interspersed with
certain stammerings and stutterings. But Josie didn't come in
often. She had a lot of dignity for a girl of eighteen. Besides,
she was taking the teachers' examinations that summer, when the
other girls were playing tennis and drinking sodas.
 Buttered Side Down |