| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: the present generation has no knowledge; these buckles were fastened
to a square of polished black leather. The chevalier allowed two
watch-chains to hang parallel to each other from each of his waistcoat
pockets,--another vestige of the eighteenth century, which the
Incroyables had not disdained to use under the Directory. This
transition costume, uniting as it did two centuries, was worn by the
chevalier with the high-bred grace of an old French marquis, the
secret of which is lost to France since the day when Fleury, Mole's
last pupil, vanished.
The private life of this old bachelor was apparently open to all eyes,
though in fact it was quite mysterious. He lived in a lodging that was
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Why not?" he murmured.
The savage ape bearing the mighty bludgeon was slinking
toward Carthoris. The Heliumite's fingers were working
as he kept his eyes upon his executioner. Kar Komak
bent his gaze penetratingly upon the apes. The effort of
his mind was evidenced in the sweat upon his contracted brows.
The creature that was to slay the red man was almost
within arm's reach of his prey when Carthoris heard
a hoarse shout from the opposite side of the courtyard.
In common with the squatting apes and the demon with
the club he turned in the direction of the sound,
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: of the ship on her course. He never did come to know whether
ropes should be coiled from left to right or from right to left.
It was mentally impossible for him to learn the easy muscular
trick of throwing his weight on a rope in pulling and hauling.
The simplest knots and turns were beyond his comprehension, while
he was mortally afraid of going aloft. Bullied by captain and
mate, he was one day forced aloft. He managed to get underneath
the crosstrees, and there he froze to the ratlines. Two sailors
had to go after him to help him down.
All of which was bad enough had there been no worse. But he was
vicious, malignant, dirty, and without common decency. He was a
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