| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: "Have you come to study American manners?" asked the young girl.
"Oh, I don't know. I just came over for a lark. I haven't got long."
Here there was a pause, and Lord Lambeth began again. "But Mr. Westgate
will come down here, will not he?"
"I certainly hope he will. He must help to entertain you and Mr. Beaumont."
Lord Lambeth looked at her a little with his handsome brown eyes.
"Do you suppose he would have come down with us if we had urged him?"
Mr. Westgate's sister-in-law was silent a moment, and then,
"I daresay he would," she answered.
"Really!" said the young Englishman. "He was immensely civil
to Beaumont and me," he added.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: the blind confidence of youth, which is the blindness of young
kittens, whose eyes have not yet opened on the world; and there is
that physical blindness, ma'am, of which I am, contrairy to my own
desire, a most illustrious example. Added to these, ma'am, is that
blindness of the intellect, of which we have a specimen in your
interesting son, and which, having sometimes glimmerings and
dawnings of the light, is scarcely to be trusted as a total
darkness. Therefore, ma'am, I have taken the liberty to get him
out of the way for a short time, while you and I confer together,
and this precaution arising out of the delicacy of my sentiments
towards yourself, you will excuse me, ma'am, I know.'
Barnaby Rudge |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: the ghost at a valuation. I come from a modern country, where we
have everything that money can buy; and with all our spry young
fellows painting the Old World red, and carrying off your best
actresses and prima-donnas, I reckon that if there were such a
thing as a ghost in Europe, we'd have it at home in a very short
time in one of our public museums, or on the road as a show.'
'I fear that the ghost exists,' said Lord Canterville, smiling,
'though it may have resisted the overtures of your enterprising
impresarios. It has been well known for three centuries, since
1584 in fact, and always makes its appearance before the death of
any member of our family.'
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