| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: grew silent as he watched the mournful face of the young man; for
though old painters have none of such petty scruples in presence of
their art, yet they admire them in others, when they are fresh and
pleasing. The young man held his hand on his sword, and his ear seemed
glued to the panel of the door. Both men, standing darkly in the
shadow, looked like conspirators waiting the hour to strike a tyrant.
"Come in! come in!" cried the old man, beaming with happiness. "My
work is perfect; I can show it now with pride. Never shall painter,
brushes, colors, canvas, light, produce the rival of Catherine
Lescaut, the Beautiful Nut-girl."
Porbus and Poussin, seized with wild curiosity, rushed into the middle
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: what is going on. The moment that her signalling-thread ceases to
work, she knows nothing of passing events. All day long, she
remains without stirring. In the evening, at eight o'clock, she
sallies forth to weave the new web and at last finds the rich
windfall whereof she was hitherto unaware.
One word more. The web is often shaken by the wind. The different
parts of the framework, tossed and teased by the eddying air-
currents, cannot fail to transmit their vibration to the
signalling-thread. Nevertheless, the Spider does not quit her hut
and remains indifferent to the commotion prevailing in the net.
Her line, therefore, is something better than a bell-rope that
The Life of the Spider |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Options by O. Henry: and then I'll stick spurs into the sides of my narrative.
"Willie inclined to the Caucasian in his coloring and manner of style.
His hair was opalescent and his conversation fragmentary. His eyes
were the same blue shade as the china dog's on the right-hand corner
of your Aunt Ellen's mantelpiece. He took things as they come, and I
never felt any hostility against him. I let him live, and so did
others.
"But what does this Willie do but coax his heart out of his boots and
lose it to Myra Allison, the liveliest, brightest, keenest, smartest,
and prettiest girl in San Augustine. I tell you, she had the blackest
eyes, the shiniest curls, and the most tantalizing-- Oh, no, you're
Options |
