| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: freely on its way to the left of the town, neither restrained by
a dam nor bordered by a towing-path.
Upon a gentle eminence, nearly a mile to the southward of the
town, were seen, amongst many venerable oaks and tangled
thickets, the turrets of a castle as old as the walls of York and
Lancaster, but which seemed to have received important
alterations during the age of Elizabeth and her successor, It had
not been a place of great size; but whatever accommodation it
formerly afforded was, it must be supposed, still to be obtained
within its walls. At least, such was the inference which General
Browne drew from observing the smoke arise merrily from several
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: things on emerging from a nap. The same people were sitting
near him on the beach--the same, and yet not quite the same.
He found himself noticing a person whom he had not noticed before--
a young lady, who was seated in a low portable chair, some dozen
yards off, with her eyes bent upon a book. Her head was in shade;
her large parasol made, indeed, an awning for her whole person,
which in this way, in the quiet attitude of perusal, seemed to
abstract itself from the glare and murmur of the beach.
The clear shadow of her umbrella--it was lined with blue--
was deep upon her face; but it was not deep enough to
prevent Bernard from recognizing a profile that he knew.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: cutting-table? We don't cut our patterns with an ouija-board."
Mrs. Orton-Wells rustled protestingly.
"But, my dear Mrs. Buck, you know, we mean women of the Laboring
Class."
"I'm in this place of business from nine to five, Monday to
Saturday, inclusive. If that doesn't make me a member of the
laboring class I don't want to belong."
It was here that Mrs. Orton-Wells showed herself a woman not to
be trifled with. She moved forward to the edge of her chair,
fixed Emma Buck with determined eyes, and swept into midstream,
sails spread.
 Emma McChesney & Co. |