| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Land of Footprints by Stewart Edward White: 65.
Of more importance than the actual or sensible temperature of the
air is the power of the sun's rays. At all times of year this is
practically constant; for the orb merely swings a few degrees
north and south of the equator, and the extreme difference in
time between its risings or settings is not more than twenty minutes.
This power is also practically constant whatever the temperature
of the air and is dangerous even on a cloudy day, when the heat
waves are effectually screened off, but when the actinic rays are
as active as ever. For this reason the protection of helmet and
spine pad should never be omitted, no matter what the condition
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: adorned with patchwork, the shelves arrayed with willow-
pattern plates, the floors and tables bright with
scrubbing or pipe-clay, and the very kettle polished like
silver. It is the sign of a contented old age in country
places, where there is little matter for gossip and no
street sights. Housework becomes an art; and at evening,
when the cottage interior shines and twinkles in the glow
of the fire, the housewife folds her hands and
contemplates her finished picture; the snow and the wind
may do their worst, she has made herself a pleasant
corner in the world. The city might be a thousand miles
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: It is coming this way. Hark, how near it is! One can count
the footfalls--one--two--three. There--it is just outside.
Now is the time! Shout, man, shout!--it is the one sole chance
between you and eternity! Ah, you see you have delayed too long--
it is gone by. There--it is dying out. It is gone! Think of it--
reflect upon it--you have heard a human footstep for the last time.
How curious it must be, to listen to so common a sound as that,
and know that one will never hear the fellow to it again.'
Oh, my friend, the agony in that shrouded face was ecstasy to see!
I thought of a new torture, and applied it--assisting myself with a trifle
of lying invention--
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