| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: assertive attitude, a corner of his cloak thrown cavalierly over
his left shoulder, muffling his chin and mouth; while the broad-
brimmed yellow hat hung on a corner of his square little head. He
stood there taking snuff, repeatedly.
"A mule," repeated the wine-seller, his eyes fixed on that quaint
and snuffy figure. . . "No, senor officer! Decidedly no mule is to
be got in this poor place."
The coxswain, who stood by with the true sailor's air of unconcern
in strange surroundings, struck in quietly -
"If your honour will believe me Shank's pony's the best for this
job. I would have to leave the beast somewhere, anyhow, since the
Within the Tides |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: stopping fitfully in places where the undergrowth of life struck
him as closer, asked himself yearningly, wondered secretly and
sorely, if it would have lurked here or there. It would have at
all events sprung; what was at least complete was his belief in the
truth itself of the assurance given him. The change from his old
sense to his new was absolute and final: what was to happen had so
absolutely and finally happened that he was as little able to know
a fear for his future as to know a hope; so absent in short was any
question of anything still to come. He was to live entirely with
the other question, that of his unidentified past, that of his
having to see his fortune impenetrably muffled and masked.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Blue Flower by Henry van Dyke: the master's room were full of precious stones. The stewards
were diligent and faithful. The servants of the household
rejoiced at the young master's return. His table was spread;
the rose-garland of pleasure was woven for his head; his cup
was overflowing with the spicy wine of power.
The period of mourning for his father came at a fortunate
moment to seclude and safeguard him from the storm of
political troubles and persecutions that fell upon Antioch
after the insults offered by the people to the imperial
statues in the year 387. The friends of Demetrius, prudent and
conservative persons, gathered around Hermas and made him welcome
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