| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: nothing of it, yet magnetically knew that the Virginian was the
great man. And they watched him with approval. He sat by the fire
with the frying-pan, looking his daily self--engaging and
saturnine. And now as Trampas declared tickets to California
would be dear and Rawhide had better come first, the Southerner
let loose his heaven-born imagination.
"There's a better reason for Rawhide than tickets, Trampas," said
he. "I said it was too late for Tulare."
"I heard you," said Trampas. "Opinions may differ. You and I
don't think alike on several points.
"Gawd, Trampas!" said the Virginian, "d' yu' reckon I'd be
 The Virginian |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: reassured me when otherwise I should have been doubtful of the trail
to take where two crossed or where there were forks, as occurred
at several points. And so, as night was drawing on, I came to the
southern end of a line of cliffs loftier than any I had seen before,
and as I approached them, there was wafted to my nostrils the pungent
aroma of woodsmoke. What could it mean? There could, to my mind,
be but a single solution: man abided close by, a higher order of
man than we had as yet seen, other than Ahm, the Neanderthal man.
I wondered again as I had so many times that day if it had not been
Ahm who stole Lys.
Cautiously I approached the flank of the cliffs, where they
 The Land that Time Forgot |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: The lines of forest were long purple shadows.
One cloud lay along the western sky partly
smothering the red.
As the youth left the scene behind him, he
heard the guns suddenly roar out. He imagined
them shaking in black rage. They belched and
howled like brass devils guarding a gate. The
soft air was filled with the tremendous remon-
strance. With it came the shattering peal of
opposing infantry. Turning to look behind him,
he could see sheets of orange light illumine the
 The Red Badge of Courage |