| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: pillars of the balcony lengthened into the tall, bare stems of
pines, dwindled down to human figures, settled again into their
true shape and size, and then commenced a new succession of
changes. For a single moment, when he deemed himself awake, he
could have sworn that a visage--one which he seemed to remember,
yet could not absolutely name as his kinsman's--was looking
towards him from the Gothic window. A deeper sleep wrestled with
and nearly overcame him, but fled at the sound of footsteps along
the opposite pavement. Robin rubbed his eyes, discerned a man
passing at the foot of the balcony, and addressed him in a loud,
peevish, and lamentable cry.
The Snow Image |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: her director's opinion, wished to crush the Church. The Left benches
for her meant the popular upheaval and the scaffolds of 1793.
"What would your uncle, that sainted man who hears us, say to this?"
exclaimed Chesnel. Mme. du Croisier made no reply, but the great tears
rolled down her checks.
"You have already been the cause of one poor boy's death; his mother
will go mourning all her days," continued Chesnel; he saw how his
words told, but he would have struck harder and even broken this
woman's heart to save Victurnien. "Do you want to kill Mlle. Armande,
for she would not survive the dishonor of the house for a week? Do you
wish to be the death of poor Chesnel, your old notary? For I shall
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: stood before her, his uncouth form and features illuminated by
the iron lamp which he held in his hand.
"Enter, daughter of affliction," he said,--"enter the house of
misery."
She entered, and observed, with a precaution which increased her
trepidation, that the Recluse's first act, after setting the lamp
upon the table, was to replace the numerous bolts which secured
the door of his hut. She shrunk as she heard the noise which
accompanied this ominous operation, yet remembered Ratcliffe's
caution, and endeavoured to suppress all appearance of
apprehension. The light of the lamp was weak and uncertain; but
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