| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: The night was horribly silent. There was one dreadful moment for the
countess, when the battalion of recruits passed through the town, and
went to their several billets. Every step, every sound, was a hope,--
and a lost hope. After that the stillness continued. Towards morning
the countess was obliged to return to her room. Brigitte, who watched
her movements, was uneasy when she did not reappear, and entering the
room she found her dead.
"She must have heard that recruit walking about Monsieur Auguste's
room, and singing their damned Marseillaise, as if he were in a
stable," cried Brigitte. "That was enough to kill her!"
The death of the countess had a far more solemn cause; it resulted, no
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: him.
"Well," said the superintendent, "have you ordered the moujiks to
plough to-day?"
"Yes, sir, I did," was the reply.
"Have they all gone to the field?"
"Yes, sir; all of them. I directed them myself where to begin."
"That is all very well. You gave the orders, but are they
ploughing? Go at once and see, and you may tell them that I
shall be there after dinner. I shall expect to find one and a
half acres done for every two ploughs, and the work must be well
done; otherwise they shall be severely punished, notwithstanding
The Kreutzer Sonata |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane: minute of the fight died away. The breaths of the fighters came
wheezingly from their lips and the three chests were straining and
heaving. Pete at intervals gave vent to low, labored hisses, that
sounded like a desire to kill. Jimmie's ally gibbered at times like
a wounded maniac. Jimmie was silent, fighting with the face
of a sacrificial priest. The rage of fear shone in all their
eyes and their blood-colored fists swirled.
At a tottering moment a blow from Pete's hand struck the ally
and he crashed to the floor. He wriggled instantly to his feet and
grasping the quiet stranger's beer glass from the bar, hurled it at
Pete's head.
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets |
