| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: overthrown brain? It was undoubtedly, in spite of the difference,
the same hand that had penned the first pages of the book. A few
characteristic turns of the writing were plainly to be seen in both
parts of the story. But the ink was quite different also. The
first pages had been written with a delicate violet ink, the later
leaves were penned with a black ink of uneven quality, of the kind
used by poor people who write very seldom. The words of this later
portion of the book were blurred in many places, as if the writer
had not been able to dry them properly before she turned the leaves.
She therefore had had neither blotting paper nor sand at her disposal.
And then the weird title!
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Sir William Howe to hide the distress and danger of the period,
and the desperate aspect of the siege, under an ostentation of
festivity. The spectacle of this evening, if the oldest members
of the provincial court circle might be believed, was the most
gay and gorgeous affair that had occurred in the annals of the
government. The brilliantly-lighted apartments were thronged with
figures that seemed to have stepped from the dark canvas of
historic portraits, or to have flitted forth from the magic pages
of romance, or at least to have flown hither from one of the
London theatres, without a change of garments. Steeled knights of
the Conquest, bearded statesmen of Queen Elizabeth, and
Twice Told Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: reached the spot, face to face with the other colonel, at the very
moment when the captain fell, calling out 'Help!' No, our Italian
colonel was no longer human! Foam like the froth of champagne rose to
his lips; he roared inarticulately like a lion. Incapable of uttering
a word, or even a cry, he made a terrific signal to his antagonist,
pointing to the wood and drawing his sword. The two colonels went
aside. In two seconds we saw our Colonel's opponent stretched on the
ground, his skull split in two. The soldiers of his regiment backed--
yes, by heaven, and pretty quickly too.
"The captain, who had been so nearly crushed, and who lay yelping in
the puddle where the gun carriage had thrown him, had an Italian wife,
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