| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: --the shot would miss the mark. And if it were to wake!--the thought
made his limbs rigid. He listened to his own heart beating in the
midst of the silence, and cursed the too violent pulsations which the
flow of blood brought on, fearing to disturb that sleep which allowed
him time to think of some means of escape.
Twice he placed his hand on his scimiter, intending to cut off the
head of his enemy; but the difficulty of cutting the stiff short hair
compelled him to abandon this daring project. To miss would be to die
for CERTAIN, he thought; he preferred the chances of fair fight, and
made up his mind to wait till morning; the morning did not leave him
long to wait.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: hesitating manner in which they quitted hold of the man-ropes
in leaving the ship. The passage to the rock was tedious, and
the boats did not reach it till half-past ten.
It being now the period of neap-tides, the water only
partially left the rock, and some of the men who were boring
on the lower ledges of the site of the beacon stood knee-deep
in water. The situation of the smith to-day was particularly
disagreeable, but his services were at all times
indispensable. As the tide did not leave the site of the
forge, he stood in the water, and as there was some roughness
on the surface it was with considerable difficulty that, with
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: instead of bearing him a grudge for the harm he did us, I should
be glad to do it. Now, what is your opinion, sir? Susan doesn't
agree with me. She says--tell what you say, Susan."
"Mary could not have acted otherwise, even if she had known what would
be the effect on Fred," said Mrs. Garth, pausing from her work,
and looking at Mr. Farebrother.
"And she was quite ignorant of it. It seems to me, a loss which falls
on another because we have done right is not to lie upon our conscience."
The Vicar did not answer immediately, and Caleb said, "It's the feeling.
The child feels in that way, and I feel with her. You don't mean
your horse to tread on a dog when you're backing out of the way;
Middlemarch |
