| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: On the third day of my compulsory idleness I crawled out near the grub
wagon, and reclined helpless under the conversational fire of Judson
Odom, the camp cook. Jud was a monologist by nature, whom Destiny,
with customary blundering, had set in a profession wherein he was
bereaved, for the greater portion of his time, of an audience.
Therefore, I was manna in the desert of Jud's obmutescence.
Betimes I was stirred by invalid longings for something to eat that
did not come under the caption of "grub." I had visions of the
maternal pantry "deep as first love, and wild with all regret," and
then I asked:
"Jud, can you make pancakes?"
Heart of the West |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Before he had the words half out of his mouth the mucker
was forging ahead through the jungle along the well-marked
spoor of the samurai.
"Wot kind of men do you suppose they are?" asked Red
Sanders.
"Malaysian head-hunters, unquestionably," replied Theriere.
Red Sanders shuddered inwardly. The appellation had a
most gruesome sound.
"Come on!" cried Theriere, and started off after the mucker,
who already was out of sight in the thick forest.
Red Sanders and Wison took a few steps after the Frenchman.
The Mucker |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: were more to a borderman than all else; a new-comer on the frontier was always
"sized-up" with reference to these "points," and respected in proportion to
the measure in which he possessed them.
Old Jeff Lynn, riverman, hunter, frontiersman, puffed slowly at his pipe while
he mused thus to himself: "Mebbe I'm wrong in takin' a likin' to this
youngster so sudden. Mebbe it's because I'm fond of his sunny-haired lass, an'
ag'in mebbe it's because I'm gettin' old an' likes young folks better'n I onct
did. Anyway, I'm kinder thinkin, if this young feller gits worked out, say fer
about twenty pounds less, he'll lick a whole raft-load of wild-cats."
Joe walked to and fro on the logs, ascertained how the raft was put together,
and took a pull on the long, clumsy steering-oar. At length he seated himself
The Spirit of the Border |
