| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Before the inn in sultry weather
They talked of this and that together;
Ben told the tale of his indentures,
And Rob narrated his adventures.
Last, as the point of greatest weight,
The pair contrasted their estate,
And Robin, like a boastful sailor,
Despised the other for a tailor.
'See,' he remarked, 'with envy, see
A man with such a fist as me!
Bearded and ringed, and big, and brown,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: many miles to the south, on another watershed and among
a different kind of people. Perhaps, in truth, the grinding
labor, the poverty of ideas, the systematic selfishness
of later rural experience, had not been lacking there;
but they played no part in the memories which now he
passed in tender review. He recalled instead the warm
sunshine on the fertile expanse of fields; the sleek,
well-fed herds of "milkers" coming lowing down the road
under the maples; the prosperous and hospitable farmhouses,
with their orchards in blossom and their spacious red barns;
the bountiful boiled dinners which cheery housewives
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: "I'm sorry for you," said the joker. "I thought I was worth a thousand
francs."
"You are worth two hundred thousand francs," replied Vauvinet, "and
sometimes you are worth your weight in gold, or at least your tongue
is; but I tell you I haven't a penny."
"Very good," replied Bixiou; "then we won't say anything more about
it. I had arranged for this evening, at Carabine's, the thing you most
wanted--you know?"
Vauvinet winked an eye at Bixiou; the wink that two jockeys give each
other when they want to say: "Don't try trickery."
"Don't you remember catching me round the waist as if I were a pretty
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