| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: the open door to take him away from her upon his first journey into the
world. The idea held a daily pathos for them. Many had themselves been
through such leave takings; and no word so stirs the general heart as the
word 'mother'. Song writers know this; and the artist knew it when he
decided to paint 'Breaking Home Ties.' And 'Mother' is the title of my
story to-night."
"Mother!" This was Ethel's bewildered echo, "Whose Mother?" she softly
murmured to herself.
Richard continued. "It concerns the circumstances under which I became
engaged to my wife."
There was a movement from Ethel as she sat by the sofa.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: In 1814, weary with constant toil, the Comte de Serizy, whose
shattered health required rest, resigned all his posts, left the
department at the head of which the Emperor had placed him, and came
to Paris, where Napoleon was compelled by the evidence of his eyes to
admit that the count's illness was a valid excuse, though at first
that UNFATIGUABLE master, who gave no heed to the fatigue of others,
was disposed to consider Monsieur de Serizy's action as a defection.
Though the senator was never in disgrace, he was supposed to have
reason to complain of Napoleon. Consequently, when the Bourbons
returned, Louis XVIII., whom Monsieur de Serizy held to be his
legitimate sovereign, treated the senator, now a peer of France, with
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: pleasant to dip the gray metal pail into the clean,
colourless, cool water; pleasant to carry it back, with the
water ripping at the edge, and a broken sunbeam quivering in
the midst.
But the extreme roughness of the walking confined us in
common practice to the platform, and indeed to those parts of
it that were most easily accessible along the line of rails.
The rails came straight forward from the shaft, here and
there overgrown with little green bushes, but still entire,
and still carrying a truck, which it was Sam's delight to
trundle to and fro by the hour with various ladings. About
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