| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: wholly recover her former attitude toward life. The
growing remoteness of old age, though it had not
diminished her curiosity about her neighbours, had blunted
her never very lively compassion for their troubles; and
she seemed to have no difficulty in putting the Beaufort
disaster out of her mind. But for the first time she
became absorbed in her own symptoms, and began to
take a sentimental interest in certain members of her
family to whom she had hitherto been contemptuously
indifferent.
Mr. Welland, in particular, had the privilege of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: will be our duty to make him give up the throne."
"How?" asked Trot.
"Give me time to think," was the reply. "That's what my
brains are for. I don't know whether you people ever
think, or not, but my brains are the best that the Wizard
of Oz ever turned out, and if I give them plenty of time
to work, the result usually surprises me."
"Take your time, then," suggested Trot. "There's no
hurry."
"Thank you," said the straw man, and sat perfectly
still for half an hour. During this interval the
The Scarecrow of Oz |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: necessarily required a lofty passion; and the affections of Madame de
Dey were concentrated on a single sentiment,--that of motherhood. The
happiness and pleasure of which her married life was deprived, she
found in the passionate love she bore her son. She loved him not only
with the pure and deep devotion of a mother, but with the coquetry of
a mistress, and the jealousy of a wife. She was miserable away from
him, uneasy at his absence, could never see him enough, and loved only
through him and for him. To make men understand the strength of this
feeling, it suffices to add that the son was not only the sole child
of Madame de Dey, but also her last relation, the only being in the
world to whom the fears and hopes and joys of her life could be
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