| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: rolling hills, the broad river, the green forests seemed like old friends.
"Here I am again," he mused. "What a fool a man can be. I have left a fine old
plantation, slaves, horses, a country noted for its pretty women--for what?
Here there can be nothing for me but Indians, hard work, privation, and
trouble. Yet I could not get here quickly enough. Pshaw! What use to speak of
the possibilities of a new country. I cannot deceive myself. It is she. I
would walk a thousand miles and starve myself for months just for one glimpse
of her sweet face. Knowing this what care I for all the rest. How strange she
should ride down to the old sycamore tree yesterday the moment I was there and
thinking of her. Evidently she had just returned from her visit. I wonder if
she ever cared. I wonder if she ever thinks of me. Shall I accept that
Betty Zane |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: all round at the litter of the fray:
"And you sit like this here writing your--your . . ."
"I--what? Oh, yes! I sit here all day."
"It must be perfectly delightful."
I suppose that, being no longer very young, I might have been on
the verge of having a stroke; but she had left her dog in the
porch, and my boy's dog, patrolling the field in front, had
espied him from afar. He came on straight and swift like a
cannon-ball, and the noise of the fight, which burst suddenly
upon our ears, was more than enough to scare away a fit of
apoplexy. We went out hastily and separated the gallant animals.
A Personal Record |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: that the houses will be overflowing with inhabitants, and
that lodgings will consequently obtain considerable prices."
Again the unknown colored. "Name your terms," said he.
"I name them with scruple, monsieur, because I seek an
honest gain, and that I wish to carry on my business without
being uncivil or extravagant in my demands. Now the room you
occupy is considerable, and you are alone."
"That is my business."
"Oh! certainly. I do not mean to turn monsieur out."
The blood rushed to the temples of the unknown; he darted at
poor Cropole, the descendant of one of the officers of the
Ten Years Later |
