| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: thousand were put in, making a net loss of fifty thousand.
The last days, I gathered, the days of John Stanley, were not
so bright; the champagne had ceased to flow, the population
was already moving elsewhere, and Silverado had begun to
wither in the branch before it was cut at the root. The last
shot that was fired knocked over the stove chimney, and made
that hole in the roof of our barrack, through which the sun
was wont to visit slug-a-beds towards afternoon. A noisy,
last shot, to inaugurate the days of silence.
Throughout this interview, my conscience was a good deal
exercised; and I was moved to throw myself on my knees and
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: This little group of folk, who looked contemptuously at each other,
was separated from the passengers in the forward part of the boat by
the bench of rowers.
The belated traveler glanced about him as he stepped on board, saw
that there was no room for him in the stern, and went to the bows in
quest of a seat. They were all poor people there. At first sight of
the bareheaded man in the brown camlet coat and trunk-hose, and plain
stiff linen collar, they noticed that he wore no ornaments, carried no
cap nor bonnet in his hand, and had neither sword nor purse at his
girdle, and one and all took him for a burgomaster sure of his
authority, a worthy and kindly burgomaster like so many a Fleming of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: from father to son. They were but plain miners. They labored
like convicts at the work of extracting the precious combustible.
It is even believed that the coal miners, like the salt-makers
of that period, were actual slaves.
However that might have been, Simon Ford was proud
of belonging to this ancient family of Scotch miners.
He had worked diligently in the same place where his ancestors
had wielded the pick, the crowbar, and the mattock.
At thirty he was overman of the Dochart pit, the most important
in the Aberfoyle colliery. He was devoted to his trade.
During long years he zealously performed his duty.
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