| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: this trivial hell-hound!' His rage against his comrade rose and
flooded him, and he shook a trembling fist at the sleeper.
A swift step was audible. The captain appeared upon the
threshold of the cell, panting and flushed, and with a foolish
face of happiness. In his arms he carried a loaf of bread and
bottles of beer; the pockets of his coat were bulging with
cigars.
He rolled his treasures on the floor, grasped Herrick by both
hands, and crowed with laughter.
'Broach the beer!' he shouted. 'Broach the beer, and glory
hallelujah!'
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: and Bernard, with a good deal of an effort, rose to his feet.
The effort, doubtless, kept the movement from being either as light
or as swift as it might have been, and it vaguely attracted his
neighbor's attention. She turned her head and glanced at him,
with a glance that evidently expected but to touch him and pass.
It touched him, and it was on the point of passing; then it
suddenly checked itself; she had recognized him. She looked
at him, straight and open-eyed, out of the shadow of her parasol,
and Bernard stood there--motionless now--receiving her gaze.
How long it lasted need not be narrated. It was probably a matter
of a few seconds, but to Bernard it seemed a little eternity.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: hundred hearths; and the prosperous town of Ostend was an obscure
haven, a straggling village where pirates dwelt in security among the
fishermen and the few poor merchants who lived in the place.
But though the town of Ostend consisted altogether of some score of
houses and three hundred cottages, huts or hovels built of the
driftwood of wrecked vessels, it nevertheless rejoiced in the
possession of a governor, a garrison, a forked gibbet, a convent, and
a burgomaster, in short, in all the institutions of an advanced
civilization.
Who reigned over Brabant and Flanders in those days? On this point
tradition is mute. Let us confess at once that this tale savors
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