| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: not the reverse of estimable, often prefer to masculine inattention;
and while he listened Bernard, according to his wont, made his reflections.
He said to himself that there were two kinds of pretty girls--
the acutely conscious and the finely unconscious. Mrs. Vivian's protege
was a member of the former category; she belonged to the genus coquette.
We all have our conception of the indispensable, and the indispensable,
to this young lady, was a spectator; almost any male biped would
serve the purpose. To her spectator she addressed, for the moment,
the whole volume of her being--addressed it in her glances, her attitudes,
her exclamations, in a hundred little experiments of tone and gesture
and position. And these rustling artifices were so innocent and obvious
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: no one ever taught this art to me?
[28] Or, "since you actually succeeded in persuading me I was
scientifically versed in," etc. See Plat. "Statesm." 301 B;
"Theaet." 208 E; Aristot. "An. Post." i. 6. 4; "Categ." 8. 41.
Isch. Ah! that is not the explanation, Socrates. The truth is what I
told you long ago and kept on telling you. Husbandry is an art so
gentle, so humane, that mistress-like she makes all those who look on
her or listen to her voice intelligent[29] of herself at once. Many a
lesson does she herself impart how best to try conclusions with
her.[30] See, for instance, how the vine, making a ladder of the
nearest tree whereon to climb, informs us that it needs support.[31]
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: treacherous to themselves as well as him. At last Vindex,
plainly declaring war, wrote to Galba, encouraging him to take
the government upon him, and give a head to this strong body,
the Gaulish provinces, which could already count a hundred
thousand men in arms, and were able to arm a yet greater number
if occasion were. Galba laid the matter before his friends,
some of whom thought it fit to wait, and see what movement there
might be and what inclinations displayed at Rome for the
revolution. But Titus Vinius, captain of his praetorian guard,
spoke thus: "Galba, what means this inquiry? To question
whether we shall continue faithful to Nero is, in itself, to
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