| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: The best work is done without many sparks. Just enough is the right
kind of a fire and a feast.
To know how to cook is not a very elegant accomplishment. Yet there
are times and seasons when it seems to come in better than
familiarity with the dead languages, or much skill upon the lute.
You cannot always rely on your guides for a tasteful preparation of
food. Many of them are ignorant of the difference between frying
and broiling, and their notion of boiling a potato or a fish is to
reduce it to a pulp. Now and then you find a man who has a natural
inclination to the culinary art, and who does very well within
familiar limits.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: fought Napoleon. Yes: you may well stare at it with all your
eyes, the noble down. It is one of the most sacred spots on
English soil.
Ah, it is gone now. The train runs so fast.
So it does; too fast to let you look long at one thing: but in
return, it lets you see so many more things in a given time than
the slow old coaches and posters did.--Well? what is it?
I wanted to ask you a question, but you won't listen to me.
Won't I? I suppose I was dreaming with my eyes open. You see, I
have been so often along this line--and through this country, too,
long before the line was made--that I cannot pass it without its
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: the choral bursts of half a dozen discordant voices, which issue
from this jovial mansion. At such times the street is lined with
listeners, who enjoy a delight equal to that of gazing into a
confectioner's window, or snuffing up the steams of a
cookshop.
There are two annual events which produce great stir and
sensation in Little Britain; these are St. Bartholomew's Fair,
and the Lord Mayor's Day. During the time of the fair, which
is held in the adjoining regions of Smithfield, there is nothing
going on but gossiping and gadding about. The late quiet
streets of Little Britain are overrun with an irruption of
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