The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: heat, freezing with terror. News was bawled down to them that
the ship was indeed a man-of-war, that she was close up, that
she was lowering a boat; and still they sought in vain. By what
accident they missed the iron box with the money and accounts,
is hard to fancy; but they did. And the vital documents were
found at last in the pocket of Trent's shore-going coat, where he
had left them when last he came on board.
Wicks smiled for the first time that morning. "None too soon,"
said he. "And now for it! Take these others for me; I'm afraid
I'll get them mixed if I keep both."
"What are they?" Carthew asked.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: lost all self-control on seeing that incident repeated in dumb show
and accompanied by fescennine corybantics. Except in 'name and
borrowed notoriety' the music-hall sensation has no relation
whatever to the drama which so profoundly moved the whole of Europe
and the greatest living musician. The adjectives of contumely are
easily transmuted into epithets of adulation, when a prominent
ecclesiastic succumbs, like King Herod, to the fascination of a
dancer.
It is not usually known in England that a young French naval
officer, unaware that Dr. Strauss was composing an opera on the
theme of Salome, wrote another music drama to accompany Wilde's
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland: his little boy called at our home on Filial Piety Lane, in
Peking.
The dresses of father and child were exactly alike--as
though they had been twins, boots of black velvet or satin,
blue silk trousers, a long blue silk garment, a waistcoat of
blue brocade, and a black satin skullcap--the child was in
every respect, even to the dignity of his bearing, a vest-
pocket edition of his father.
He had a T'ao of books which I recognized as the Fifteen
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