| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: Comanche huntin'-ground, an' all the redskins an' outlaws in thet
country were hidin' in the river-bottoms, an' chasin' some of the
last buffalo herds thet hed wintered in there. I was a young
buck them days, an' purty much of a desperado, I'm thinkin'.
Though of all the seventeen notches on my gun--an' each notch
meant a man killed face to face--there was only one thet I was
ashamed of. Thet one was fer an express messenger who I hit on
the head most unprofessional like, jest because he wouldn't hand
over a leetle package. I hed the kind of a reputashun thet made
all the fellers in saloons smile an' buy drinks.
"Well, I dropped into a place named Taylor's Bend, an' was
The Light of Western Stars |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: if it were a sort of Court decoration given only to the tried
friends of the house. I had expected more pomp in the ceremony.
The gift had surely its special quality, multiple and rare. From
the only flock on the East Coast! He did not make half enough of
it. That man did not understand his opportunities. However, I
thanked him at some length.
"You see," he interrupted abruptly in a very peculiar tone, "the
worst of this country is that one is not able to realise. . .it's
impossible to realise. . ." His voice sank into a languid
mutter. "And when one has very large interests. . .very
important interests. . ." he finished faintly. . ."up the river."
Some Reminiscences |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: to Madame d'Espard's dinner with the intention of being a gentle,
simple woman, to whom life was known only through its deceptions: a
woman full of soul, and calumniated, but resigned,--in short, a
wounded angel.
She arrived early, so as to pose on a sofa near the fire beside Madame
d'Espard, as she wished to be first seen: that is, in one of those
attitudes in which science is concealed beneath an exquisite
naturalness; a studied attitude, putting in relief the beautiful
serpentine outline which, starting from the foot, rises gracefully to
the hip, and continues with adorable curves to the shoulder,
presenting, in fact, a profile of the whole body. With a subtlety
|
