| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: But happily our sense of uncertainty is soothed and cushioned by
habit, so that we can live comfortably with it. Only now and then,
by way of special excitement, it starts up wide awake. We perceive
how delicately our fortune is poised and balanced on the pivot of a
single incident. We get a peep at the oscillating needle, and,
because we have happened to see it tremble, we call our experience a
crisis.
The meditative angler is not exempt from these sensational periods.
There are times when all the uncertainty of his chosen pursuit seems
to condense itself into one big chance, and stand out before him
like a salmon on the top wave of a rapid. He sees that his luck
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: chairs, apparently oblivious of business. They were
lazily discussing summer opera, it being, their habit --
perhaps their pride also -- to appear supernaturally
indifferent whenever they stood with large interests
imperilled. And they stood to win more on this stake
than most people knew. They possessed inside infor-
mation to the effect that a new railroad would, within a
year, split this very Chiquito River valley and send land
values ballooning all along its route. A dollar under
thirty thousand profit on this location, if it should hold
good, would be a loss to their expectations. So, while
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Captain Stormfield by Mark Twain: popular comedians in the English section - draws first rate. There
are better, of course - people that were never heard of on earth -
but Charles is making a very good reputation indeed, and is
considered a rising man. Richard the Lion-hearted is in the prize-
ring, and coming into considerable favor. Henry the Eighth is a
tragedian, and the scenes where he kills people are done to the
very life. Henry the Sixth keeps a religious-book stand."
"Did you ever see Napoleon, Sandy?"
"Often - sometimes in the Corsican range, sometimes in the French.
He always hunts up a conspicuous place, and goes frowning around
with his arms folded and his field-glass under his arm, looking as
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