| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: smile no more. There are pangs which, like a drop of blood cast into
flowing water, stain the whole current instantly. The stream, renewed
from its source, restores the purity of its surface; but with Etienne
the source itself was polluted, and each new current brought its own
gall.
Bertrand, in his old age, had retained the superintendence of the
stables, so as not to lose the habit of authority in the household.
His house was not far from that of Etienne, so that he was ever at
hand to watch over the youth with the persistent affection and simple
wiliness characteristic of old soldiers. He checked his roughness when
speaking to the poor lad; softly he walked in rainy weather to fetch
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: copper, and before the church there are two poplar trees of
different heights.
"Another day has passed, a day of torturing fear! Am I really
insane? I know that I see queer things. This morning I looked
towards the window and I saw a parrot sitting there! I saw it quite
plainly. It ruffled up its red and green feathers and stared at me.
I stared back at it and suddenly it was gone. I shivered. Finally
I pulled myself together and went to the window. There was no bird
outside nor was there a trace of any in the snow on the window sill.
Could the wind have blown away the tracks so soon, or was it really
my sick brain that appeared to see this tropical bird in the midst
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: With this I drew from my deep sailor's pocket my seaman's protection,
as before described. The merest glance at the paper satisfied him,
and he took my fare and went on about his business. This moment
of time was one of the most anxious I ever experienced.
Had the conductor looked closely at the paper, he could not
have failed to discover that it called for a very different-looking
person from myself, and in that case it would have been his duty
to arrest me on the instant, and send me back to Baltimore
from the first station. When he left me with the assurance
that I was all right, though much relieved, I realized that
I was still in great danger: I was still in Maryland,
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