| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: ordered the dress to be made after my own design, long plain
sleeves, and high plain corsage, and requested that it should not
be sent home till the evening of the ball. Before it came off Mr.
Uxbridge called, and was graciously received by Aunt Eliza, who
could be gracious to all except her relatives. I could not but
perceive, however, that they watched each other in spite of their
lively conversation. To me he was deferential, but went over the
ground of our acquaintance as if it had been the most natural thing
in the world. But for my life-long habit of never calling in
question the behavior of those I came in contact with, and of never
expecting any thing different from that I received, I might have
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Pierrette by Honore de Balzac: wife looked like him. Never was a couple better matched. Rogron liked
good living and to be waited upon by pretty girls. He belonged to the
class of egoists whose behavior is brutal; he gave way to his vices
and did their will openly in the face of Israel. Grasping, selfish,
without decency, and always gratifying his own fancies, he devoured
his earnings until the day when his teeth failed him. Selfishness
stayed by him. In his old days he sold his inn, collected (as we have
seen) all he could of his late father-in-law's property, and went to
live in the little house in the square of Provins, bought for a trifle
from the widow of old Auffray, Pierrette's grandmother.
Rogron and his wife had about two thousand francs a year from twenty-
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: or rather a brother-in-arms, to the renowned Laird's Jock; till,
venturing into England with a small escort, a faithless guide,
and with a light single-handed sword instead of his ponderous
brand, Hobbie Noble, attacked by superior numbers, was made
prisoner and executed.
With this weapon, and by means of his own strength and address,
the Laird's Jock maintained the reputation of the best swordsman
on the Border side, and defeated or slew many who ventured to
dispute with him the formidable title.
But years pass on with the strong and the brave as with the
feeble and the timid. In process of time the Laird's Jock grew
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