| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: his telescope to his eye Henchard expected that Farfrae's
features would be disclosed as usual. But the lenses
revealed that today the man was not Elizabeth-Jane's lover.
It was one clothed as a merchant captain, and as he turned
in the scrutiny of the road he revealed his face. Henchard
lived a lifetime the moment he saw it. The face was
Newson's.
Henchard dropped the glass, and for some seconds made no
other movement. Newson waited, and Henchard waited--if that
could be called a waiting which was a transfixture. But
Elizabeth-Jane did not come. Something or other had caused
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: " 'YOU MUST AVENGE ME!' says a voice.
" 'What an idiot you are!' said the hemp-grower. 'Always seeing
something or other that has no sort of sense about it! Just you all
over.'
"He takes up the head, which snaps at his finger, and pitches it out
into the yard.
" 'Get on with my omelette,' he says, 'and do not bother yourself
about that. 'Tis a cat.'
" 'A cat! says she; 'it was as round as a ball.'
"She puts back her frying-pan on the fire. . . . Pouf! Down comes a
leg this time, and they go through the whole story again. The man was
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: principal citizens of your town, they to take it in trust [Cries of
"Oh! Oh! Oh!"], and use it in such ways as to them shall seem best
for the propagation and preservation of your community's noble
reputation for incorruptible honesty [more cries]--a reputation to
which their names and their efforts will add a new and far-reaching
lustre." [Enthusiastic outburst of sarcastic applause.] That seems
to be all. No--here is a postscript:
"'P.S.--CITIZENS OF HADLEYBURG: There IS no test-remark--nobody
made one. [Great sensation.] There wasn't any pauper stranger, nor
any twenty-dollar contribution, nor any accompanying benediction and
compliment--these are all inventions. [General buzz and hum of
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
