| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: whip-hand tingled, and grasped their charge with convulsive energy;
but I restrained the impulse, and answering his salutation with a
nod, attempted to push on; but he pushed on beside me, and began to
talk about the weather and the crops. I gave the briefest possible
answers to his queries and observations, and fell back. He fell
back too, and asked if my horse was lame. I replied with a look,
at which he placidly smiled.
I was as much astonished as exasperated at this singular
pertinacity and imperturbable assurance on his part. I had thought
the circumstances of our last meeting would have left such an
impression on his mind as to render him cold and distant ever
 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: the solid walls of black forest soften to gray, and vast
stretches of the river open up and reveal themselves; the water
is glass-smooth, gives off spectral little wreaths of white mist,
there is not the faintest breath of wind, nor stir of leaf;
the tranquillity is profound and infinitely satisfying.
Then a bird pipes up, another follows, and soon the pipings
develop into a jubilant riot of music. You see none of the birds;
you simply move through an atmosphere of song which seems
to sing itself. When the light has become a little stronger,
you have one of the fairest and softest pictures imaginable.
You have the intense green of the massed and crowded foliage
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: poop, breathing in the salt breezes of another atmosphere. Putting his
hands into his pockets he felt the letters. At once he opened them,
beginning with that of his wife.
In order that the letter of the Comtesse de Manerville be fully
understood, it is necessary to give the one which Paul had written to
her on the day that he left Paris.
From Paul de Manerville to his wife:
My beloved,--When you read this letter I shall be far away from
you; perhaps already on the vessel which is to take me to India,
where I am going to repair my shattered fortune.
I have not found courage to tell you of my departure. I have
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