| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: "God be praised!" said Janet hastily--"I mean, God be praised
that it is no worse; the potion will not harm you. Rise, shake
this lethargy from your limbs, and this despair from your mind."
"Janet," repeated the Countess again, "disturb me not--leave me
at peace--let life pass quietly. I am poisoned."
"You are not, my dearest lady," answered the maiden eagerly.
"What you have swallowed cannot injure you, for the antidote has
been taken before it, and I hastened hither to tell you that the
means of escape are open to you."
"Escape!" exclaimed the lady, as she raised herself hastily in
her chair, while light returned to her eye and life to her cheek;
Kenilworth |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: AND GIVE THEM TO HIS OFFICERS AND TO HIS SERVANTS
(by which we see that bribery, corruption, and favouritism
are the standing vices of kings) AND HE WILL TAKE THE TENTH
OF YOUR MEN SERVANTS, AND YOUR MAID SERVANTS, AND YOUR
GOODLIEST YOUNG MEN AND YOUR ASSES, AND PUT THEM TO HIS WORK;
AND HE WILL TAKE THE TENTH OF YOUR SHEEP, AND YE SHALL BE HIS SERVANTS,
AND YE SHALL CRY OUT IN THAT DAY BECAUSE OF YOUR KING WHICH YE SHALL HAVE
CHOSEN, _AND THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY._
This accounts for the continuation of monarchy;
neither do the characters of the few good kings which have lived since,
either sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin;
Common Sense |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: It was not cheerful work, at the best, to keep giving small
hammer-taps to the coffin in which one had laid away, for burial,
the poor little unacknowledged offspring of one's own misbehaving heart;
and the occupation was not rendered more agreeable by the fact that
the ghost of one's stifled dream had been summoned from the shades
by the strange, bold words of a talkative young foreigner.
What had Felix meant by saying that Mr. Brand was not so keen?
To herself her sister's justly depressed suitor had shown no sign
of faltering. Charlotte trembled all over when she allowed herself
to believe for an instant now and then that, privately, Mr. Brand
might have faltered; and as it seemed to give more force to Felix's
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