| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling: halter he would have burned the place twice over by now."
"'If any man had put my neck in a rope," she said, "I
would have seen his house burned thrice over before I
would have made terms."
"'But it was a woman," I said; and I laughed, and she
wept and said that I mocked her in her captivity.
"'Lady," said I, "there is no captive in this valley
except one, and he is not a Saxon."
'At this she cried that I was a Norman thief, who came
with false, sweet words, having intended from the first to
turn her out in the fields to beg her bread. Into the fields!
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: the experiment of procuring lightning from the clouds by a pointed rod,
and acquainting them with the success, they soon made me more than
amends for the slight with which they had before treated me.
Without my having made any application for that honor, they chose me
a member, and voted that I should be excus'd the customary payments,
which would have amounted to twenty-five guineas; and ever since
have given me their Transactions gratis. They also presented
me with the gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley for the year 1753,
the delivery of which was accompanied by a very handsome speech
of the president, Lord Macclesfield, wherein I was highly honoured.
Our new governor, Captain Denny, brought over for me the before-mentioned
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: sitting pale and tremulous under the glare of the candles, "that is my
grandniece, the Comtesse de Soulanges; to-day she yielded at last to
my persuasion, and consented to leave the sorrowful room, where the
sight of her child gives her but little consolation. You see her? You
think her charming? Then imagine, dear Beauty, what she must have been
when happiness and love shed their glory on that face now blighted."
The Countess looked away in silence, and seemed lost in sad
reflections.
The Duchess led her to the door into the card-room; then, after
looking round the room as if in search of some one--"And there is
Soulanges!" she said in deep tones.
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