| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: but this I say, as the Rainbow's the Rainbow. And for the matter o'
that, if the talk is to be o' the Lammeters, _you_ know the most
upo' that head, eh, Mr. Macey? You remember when first
Mr. Lammeter's father come into these parts, and took the Warrens?"
Mr. Macey, tailor and parish-clerk, the latter of which functions
rheumatism had of late obliged him to share with a small-featured
young man who sat opposite him, held his white head on one side, and
twirled his thumbs with an air of complacency, slightly seasoned
with criticism. He smiled pityingly, in answer to the landlord's
appeal, and said--
"Aye, aye; I know, I know; but I let other folks talk. I've laid
Silas Marner |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: Sherman was marching through Georgia, from Atlanta to the sea.
Behind him lay the smoking ruins of Atlanta to which the torch had
been set as the blue army tramped out. Before him lay three
hundred miles of territory virtually undefended save by a few state
militia and the old men and young boys of the Home Guard.
Here lay the fertile state, dotted with plantations, sheltering the
women and children, the very old and the negroes. In a swath
eighty miles wide the Yankees were looting and burning. There were
hundreds of homes in flames, hundreds of homes resounding with
their footsteps. But, to Scarlett, watching the bluecoats pour
into the front hall, it was not a countrywide affair. It was
Gone With the Wind |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: "Cannot you oblige me without forcing me to tell my secret thoughts?"
"Where would be the pleasure?" cried the king, seeing only an
amusement in this affair.
"Ah! do you want your pleasure to cost me grief?"
"Oh! you sly little girl, haven't you any confidence in me?"
"Then, sire, set the young nobleman at liberty."
"So! he is a nobleman, is he?" cried the king. "Then he is not an
apprentice?"
"He is certainly innocent," she said.
"I don't see it so," said the king, coldly. "I am the law and justice
of my kingdom, and I must punish evil-doers."
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