| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: relaxed under the influence of my tobacco, and spoke at some length
on the latest improvements in gallows, dilating on the absurdity of
cutting out the former free passes to see the affair in operation.
I remember, too, that he mentioned the curious anomaly that permits
a man about to be hanged to eat a hearty meal. I did not enjoy my
dinner that night.
Before we got into Washington I had made an arrangement with Johnson
to surrender myself at two the following afternoon. Also, I had
wired to Alison, asking her if she would carry out the contract she
had made. The detective saw me home, and left me there. Mrs.
Klopton received me with dignified reserve. The very tone in which
 The Man in Lower Ten |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: continued. "You take your lunch; you leave the dirty city
all day; you race about in the open air, and when lunchtime
comes, oh, aren't you hungry? And the woods and the grass
smell so fine!"
"I don' know, Miss Sieppe," he answered, keeping his eyes
fixed on the ground between the rails. "I never went on
a picnic."
"Never went on a picnic?" she cried, astonished. "Oh,
you'll see what fun we'll have. In the morning father and
the children dig clams in the mud by the shore, an' we bake
them, and--oh, there's thousands of things to do."
 McTeague |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Euthydemus by Plato: them; the pair are invincible.
Then, my dear Crito, there was universal applause of the speakers and their
words, and what with laughing and clapping of hands and rejoicings the two
men were quite overpowered; for hitherto their partisans only had cheered
at each successive hit, but now the whole company shouted with delight
until the columns of the Lyceum returned the sound, seeming to sympathize
in their joy. To such a pitch was I affected myself, that I made a speech,
in which I acknowledged that I had never seen the like of their wisdom; I
was their devoted servant, and fell to praising and admiring of them. What
marvellous dexterity of wit, I said, enabled you to acquire this great
perfection in such a short time? There is much, indeed, to admire in your
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