| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: should we utilize a more charitable and at the same time
more truthful word than spinster? I think we should,
since Abigail was but nineteen and quite human, de-
spite her name.
Upon the dressing table of Abigail reposed much sil-
ver and gold and ivory, wrought by clever artisans into
articles of great beauty and some utility; but with scarce
a glance the burglar passed them by, directing his course
straight across the room to a small wall safe cleverly
hidden by a bit of tapestry.
How, Oh how, this suggestive familiarity with the
 The Oakdale Affair |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: four has given in some portion of the last ten miles: the fault in
number three is still at the bottom of the sea: number two is now
the only good wire and the hold is getting in such a mess, through
keeping bad bits out and cutting for splicing and testing, that
there will be great risk in paying out. The cable is somewhat
strained in its ascent from one mile below us; what it will be when
we get to two miles is a problem we may have to determine.
'9 P.M. - A most provoking unsatisfactory day. We have done
nothing. The wind and sea have both risen. Too little notice has
been given to the telegraphists who accompany this expedition; they
had to leave all their instruments at Lyons in order to arrive at
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: the air of his youth, and what by long intimacy, won so far on her
affections, that she rather than he was the lover, and at her death
she bequeathed him her whole property. He likewise inherited the
estate of a step-mother who loved him as her own son. By these means
he had pretty well advanced his fortunes.
He was chosen quaestor to Marius in his first consulship, and set
sail with him for Libya, to war upon Jugurtha. Here, in general, he
gained approbation; and more especially, by closing in dexterously
with an accidental occasion, made a friend of Bocchus, king of
Numidia. He hospitably entertained the king's ambassadors, on their
escape from some Numidian robbers, and after showing them much
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