| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: swindler and contemptible fortune seeker.
"'Me and Andy,' says I, 'propose to teach these preyers upon society a
lesson. It was with difficulty,' says I, 'that me and Andy could
refrain from forming a corporation under the title of the Great Moral
and Millennial Malevolent Matrimonial Agency. Does that satisfy you?'
"'It does, Mr. Peters,' says she. 'I might have known you wouldn't
have gone into anything that wasn't opprobrious. But what will my
duties be? Do I have to reject personally these 3,000 ramscallions you
speak of, or can I throw them out in bunches?'
"'Your job, Mrs. Trotter,' says I, 'will be practically a cynosure.
You will live at a quiet hotel and will have no work to do. Andy and I
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the village of the blacks, all excitement at the prospect
of discovering the Supreme Being, the Creator of all things.
As he traveled he reviewed, mentally, his armament--the
condition of his hunting knife, the number of his arrows,
the newness of the gut which strung his bow--he hefted
the war spear which had once been the pride of some black
warrior of Mbonga's tribe.
If he met God, Tarzan would be prepared. One could never
tell whether a grass rope, a war spear, or a poisoned arrow
would be most efficacious against an unfamiliar foe.
Tarzan of the Apes was quite content--if God wished to fight,
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: all I knew. We had been too absorbed in watching our fate to pay
attention to each other. Nobody had eaten anything that morning,
but the men had been coming constantly to drink at the water-butt.
I ran down to the cabin. I had there, put away in a locker, ten
thousand francs in gold of whose presence on board, so far as I was
aware, not a soul, except Dominic had the slightest inkling. When
I emerged on deck again Dominic had turned about and was peering
from under his cowl at the coast. Cape Creux closed the view
ahead. To the left a wide bay, its waters torn and swept by fierce
squalls, seemed full of smoke. Astern the sky had a menacing look.
Directly he saw me, Dominic, in a placid tone, wanted to know what
The Mirror of the Sea |
