| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: describes the lotus country, "a land of streams." In school-days
and in town he acknowledged the sway of those mysterious and
irresistible forces which produce tops at one season, and marbles
at another, and kites at another, and bind all boyish hearts to
play mumble-the-peg at the due time more certainly than the stars
are bound to their orbits. But when vacation came, with its annual
exodus from the city, there was only one sign in the zodiac, and
that was Pisces.
No country seemed to him tolerable without trout, and no landscape
beautiful unless enlivened by a young river. Among what delectable
mountains did those watery guides lead his vagrant steps, and with
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: inconsiderate words. Malbone, always generous, bade him think
no more about it, and Harry for that day reverted strongly to
his first faith. "So noble, so high-toned," he said to Kate.
Indeed, a man never appears more magnanimous than in forgiving
a friend who has told him the truth.
IX.
DANGEROUS WAYS.
IT was true enough what Harry had said. Philip Malbone's was
that perilous Rousseau-like temperament, neither sincere enough
for safety, nor false enough to alarm; the winning tenderness
that thrills and softens at the mere neighborhood of a woman,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: that ceremonious courtesy of which he had been formerly lavish.
On the contrary, he made the signal of advance with an air of
command; and when, arm in arm, and with insecure steps, the
sisters approached the spot where he stood, it was with a warning
frown that he pressed his finger to his lips, as if reiterating
his condition of absolute silence, while, stalking before them,
he led the way into the next apartment.
This was a large room, hung with black, as if for a funeral. At
the upper end was a table, or rather a species of altar, covered
with the same lugubrious colour, on which lay divers objects
resembling the usual implements of sorcery. These objects were
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