| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: she could sew on his buttons and darn his socks, and turn down his
bed at night. He filled the old house with cheer and with vitality.
And, as David gave up more and more of the work, he took it on his
broad shoulders, efficient, tireless, and increasingly popular.
She put her bonnet away in its box, and suddenly there rose in her
frail old body a fierce and unexpected resentment against David.
He had chosen a course and abided by it. He had even now no doubt
or falterings. Just as in the first anxious days there had been
no doubt in him as to the essential rightness of what he was doing.
And now - This was what came of taking a life and moulding it in
accordance with a predetermined plan. That was for God to do, not
The Breaking Point |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: Other lines were baited and dropped overboard, and the hands
settled themselves to the real business of the expedition. There
was no skill in the matter. The sharks bit ravenously, and soon
swarmed about the schooner in hundreds. Hardly a half minute
passed that one of the four Chinamen that were fishing did not
signal a catch, and Charlie and Jim were kept busy with spade and
gaff. By noon the deck-tubs were full. The lines were hauled in,
and the hands set the tubs in the sun to try out the oil. Under
the tropical heat the shark livers almost visibly melted away, and
by four o'clock in the afternoon the tubs were full of a thick,
yellow oil, the reek of which instantly recalled to Wilbur's mind
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: without further enquiries, swathe it in silk after the manner of
the usual game. They even go so far as to dig their fangs into the
bait, following the rule of the preliminary poisoning. Then and
then only the mistake is recognized and the tricked Spider retires
and does not come back, unless it be long afterwards, when she
flings the cumbersome object out of the web.
There are also clever ones. Like the others, these hasten to the
red-woollen lure, which my straw insidiously keeps moving; they
come from their tent among the leaves as readily as from the centre
of the web; they explore it with their palpi and their legs; but,
soon perceiving that the thing is valueless, they are careful not
The Life of the Spider |
