| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde: MRS. ERLYNNE. Dare! Oh! to save you from the abyss into which you
are falling, there is nothing in the world I would not dare,
nothing in the whole world. Here is the letter. Your husband has
never read it. He never shall read it. [Going to fireplace.] It
should never have been written. [Tears it and throws it into the
fire.]
LADY WINDERMERE. [With infinite contempt in her voice and look.]
How do I know that that was my letter after all? You seem to think
the commonest device can take me in!
MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh! why do you disbelieve everything I tell you?
What object do you think I have in coming here, except to save you
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: "adventures" and drinking-bouts, and announced his determination of
doing honor to the name which Prince Alexis of Kinesma had left
behind him in the capital.
There was cursing at the castle when the letter arrived. Many
serfs felt the sting of the short whip, the slumber-flag was
hoisted five minutes later than usual, and the consumption of
Cognac was alarming; but no mirror was smashed, and when Prince
Alexis read the letter to his poor relations, he even chuckled over
some portions of it. Boris had boldly demanded twenty thousand
rubles, in the desperate hope of receiving half that amount,--and
he had calculated correctly.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: consolatory to the smarting urchin, that "he would remember it
and thank him for it the longest day he had to live."
When school hours were over, he was even the companion and
playmate of the larger boys; and on holiday afternoons would
convoy some of the smaller ones home, who happened to have pretty
sisters, or good housewives for mothers, noted for the comforts
of the cupboard. Indeed, it behooved him to keep on good terms
with his pupils. The revenue arising from his school was small,
and would have been scarcely sufficient to furnish him with daily
bread, for he was a huge feeder, and, though lank, had the
dilating powers of an anaconda; but to help out his maintenance,
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
