| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: from the first approach of day till its last lingering
ray had left us; and at saving-fodder time, midnight
often caught us in the field binding blades.
Covey would be out with us. The way he used to
stand it, was this. He would spend the most of his
afternoons in bed. He would then come out fresh
in the evening, ready to urge us on with his words,
example, and frequently with the whip. Mr. Covey
was one of the few slaveholders who could and did
work with his hands. He was a hard-working man.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: temperature was ninety and climbing, and my left hand persistently
cramped under its bandage.
Mrs. Klopton herself saw me served, my bread buttered and cut in
tidbits, my meat ready for my fork. She hovered around me
maternally, obviously trying to cheer me.
"The paper says still warmer," she ventured. "The thermometer is
ninety-two now."
"And this coffee is two hundred and fifty," I said, putting down
my cup. "Where is Euphemia? I haven't seen her around, or heard a
dish smash all day."
"Euphemia is in bed," Mrs. Klopton said gravely. "Is your meat cut
The Man in Lower Ten |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: yours for ever! What should I say to persuade you? I will invent
pleasures . . . I . . . Great heavens! one moment! whatever you shall
ask of me--to fling myself from the window for instance--you will need
to say but one word, 'Leon!' and I will plunge down into hell. I would
bear any torture, any pain of body or soul, anything you might inflict
upon me!"
Castanier heard her with indifference. For an answer, he indicated
Leon to her with a fiendish laugh.
"The guillotine is waiting for him," he repeated.
"No, no, no! He shall not leave this house. I will save him!" she
cried. "Yes; I will kill any one who lays a finger upon him! Why will
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