| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: thought of being a priest. By parents destined me for a diplomatic
career. There was plenty of money and--and all the rest of it; for by
inheritance came to me the acquaintance of many people whose names you
would be likely to have heard of. Cities, people of fashion, artists--the
whole of it was my element and my choice; and by-and-by I married, not
only where it was desirable, but where I loved. Then for the first time
Death laid his staff upon my enchantment, and I understood many things
that had been only words to me hitherto. To have been a husband for a
year, and a father for a moment, and in that moment to lose all--this
unblinded me. Looking back, it seemed to me that I had never done anything
except for myself all my days. I left the world. In due time I became a
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from To-morrow by Joseph Conrad: Kingdom for your long-lost sons. So he sold up
his old home in Colchester, and down he comes here.
Well, it's a craze, like any other. Wouldn't catch
me going crazy over any of my youngsters clear-
ing out. I've got eight of them at home." The
barber was showing off his strength of mind in the
midst of a laughter that shook the tap-room.
Strange, though, that sort of thing, he would
confess, with the frankness of a superior intelli-
gence, seemed to be catching. His establishment,
for instance, was near the harbour, and whenever a
To-morrow |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: The joiner opposed this, and told them, let them leave that to him;
he would undertake to build them a house every night with his hatchet
and mallet, though he had no other tools, which should be fully to
their satisfaction, and as good as a tent.
The soldier and the joiner disputed that point some time, but at last
the soldier carried it for a tent. The only objection against it was,
that it must be carried with them, and that would increase their baggage
too much, the weather being hot; but the sailmaker had a piece of
good hap fell in which made that easy, for his master whom he
worked for, having a rope-walk as well as sailmaking trade, had a
little, poor horse that he made no use of then; and being willing to
A Journal of the Plague Year |
