| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: to one that is richly endowed, demands always a more or less breakneck leap
over a certain abyss which yawns threateningly below; and thus must the sudden
change with the clerk strike the reader.
"The sweet air!" continued he of the police-office, in his dreamy imaginings;
"how it reminds me of the violets in the garden of my aunt Magdalena! Yes,
then I was a little wild boy, who did not go to school very regularly. O
heavens! 'tis a long time since I have thought on those times. The good old
soul! She lived behind the Exchange. She always had a few twigs or green
shoots in water--let the winter rage without as it might. The violets exhaled
their sweet breath, whilst I pressed against the windowpanes covered with
fantastic frost-work the copper coin I had heated on the stove, and so made
Fairy Tales |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: "I am the master of this academy - the academy of the late Bertrand
des Amis, the most flourishing school of arms in Paris to-day."
M. de Kercadiou's brows went up.
"And you are master of it?"
"Maitre en fait d'Armes. I succeeded to the academy upon the death
of des Amis."
He left M. Kercadiou to think it over, and went to make his
arrangements and effect the necessary changes in his toilet.
"So that is why you have taken to wearing a sword," said M. de
Kercadiou, as they climbed into his waiting carriage.
"That and the need to guard one's self in these times."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: thunderous laughter.
"The sun's knocked the bottom out o' the trail," said the Man with
the Gash, between departing paroxysms of mirth. "An' I only 'ope
as you'll appreciate the hoppertunity of consortin' with a man o'
my mug. Get steam up in that fire-box o' your'n. I'm goin' to
unrig the dogs an' grub 'em. An' don't be shy o' the wood, my
lad; there's plenty more where that come from, and it's you've got
the time to sling an axe. An' tote up a bucket o' water while
you're about it. Lively! or I'll run you down, so 'elp me!"
Such a thing was unheard of. Jacob Kent was making the fire,
chopping wood, packing water--doing menial tasks for a guest!
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