| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: but to the favour of the covetous there is a ready way - bring
money, and nothing is denied.
"At last we came to the dwelling of our chief; a strong and
spacious house, built with stone in an island of the Nile, which
lies, as I was told, under the tropic. 'Lady,' said the Arab, 'you
shall rest after your journey a few weeks in this place, where you
are to consider yourself as Sovereign. My occupation is war: I
have therefore chosen this obscure residence, from which I can
issue unexpected, and to which I can retire unpursued. You may now
repose in security: here are few pleasures, but here is no
danger.' He then led me into the inner apartments, and seating me
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: had been sprinkled profusely over her face and throat, and water
was even placed ready to her hand, when she might happen to
recover, upon a low foot-stool by the side of the sofa.
On the following morning, Maximilian, who had been upon a hunting
party in the forest, returned to the city, and immediately learned
the news. I did not see him for some hours after, but he then
appeared to me thoroughly agitated, for the first time I had known
him to be so. In the evening another perplexing piece of
intelligence transpired with regard to Miss Liebenheim, which at
first afflicted every friend of that young lady. It was that she
had been seized with the pains of childbirth, and delivered of a
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: his shoulder, mistook him for a gardener. A knowledge of the world,
when it is not sucked in with mother's milk and part of the
inheritance of descent, is only acquired by education, supplemented by
certain gifts of chance--a graceful figure, distinction of feature, a
certain ring in the voice. All these, so important trifles, David
lacked, while Nature had bestowed them upon his friend. Of gentle
blood on the mother's side, Lucien was a Frank, even down to the high-
arched instep. David had inherited the physique of his father the
pressman and the flat foot of the Gael. Lucien could hear the shower
of jokes at David's expense; he could see Mme. de Bargeton's repressed
smile; and at length, without being exactly ashamed of his brother, he
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