| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: perpetration of the deed, its possibility is remotest from our thoughts; but
when we did know that he was dead, it seemed, somehow, that we had understood
and looked forward to it all the time. This, by retrospective analysis, we
could easily explain by the fact of his great trouble. I use "great trouble"
advisedly. Young, handsome, with an assured position as the right-hand man of
Eben Hale, the great street-railway magnate, there could be no reason for him
to complain of fortune's favors. Yet we had watched his smooth brow furrow and
corrugate as under some carking care or devouring sorrow. We had watched his
thick, black hair thin and silver as green grain under brazen skies and
parching drought. Who can forget, in the midst of the hilarious scenes he
toward the last sought with greater and greater avidity--who can forget, I
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered,
turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened
for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for
it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search
was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of
every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed
the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the
wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our
threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after
going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to
you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: law, and was only prevented from taking extreme steps by the
advice of the professional man. 'You cannot get blood from a
stone,' observed the lawyer.
And Morris saw the point and came to terms with his uncle. On the
one side, Joseph gave up all that he possessed, and assigned to
his nephew his contingent interest in the tontine, already quite
a hopeful speculation. On the other, Morris agreed to harbour his
uncle and Miss Hazeltine (who had come to grief with the rest),
and to pay to each of them one pound a month as pocket-money. The
allowance was amply sufficient for the old man; it scarce appears
how Miss Hazeltine contrived to dress upon it; but she did, and,
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