| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: while others have a thousand avenues, and may be captured in a
thousand different ways. It is a great triumph of skill to gain
the former, but a still greater proof of generalship to maintain
possession of the latter, for man must battle for his fortress at
every door and window. He who wins a thousand common hearts is
therefore entitled to some renown; but he who keeps undisputed
sway over the heart of a coquette is indeed a hero. Certain it
is, this was not the case with the redoubtable Brom Bones; and
from the moment Ichabod Crane made his advances, the interests of
the former evidently declined: his horse was no longer seen tied
to the palings on Sunday nights, and a deadly feud gradually
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: creed was indeed always upheld as a state institution on account of
the enormous facilities it offered for cheating in politics, but as
a spiritual system of belief it was unanimously rejected at a very
early period both by the common people and the educated classes,
for the sensible reason that it was so extremely dull. The former
took refuge in the mystic sensualities of the worship of Isis, the
latter in the Stoical rules of life. The Romans classified their
gods carefully in their order of precedence, analysed their
genealogies in the laborious spirit of modern heraldry, fenced them
round with a ritual as intricate as their law, but never quite
cared enough about them to believe in them. So it was of no
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: "It must have been horrible!" my companion groaned.
"It WAS horrible. But it's still more horrible to defy all
warnings; it's still more horrible to be landed in--" Without
saying in what I disgustedly shrugged my shoulders.
After a glance at me Dawling jerked round. "Then you do believe
that she may be?"
I hesitated. "The thing would be to make HER believe it. She only
needs a good scare."
"But if that fellow is shocked at the precautions she does take?"
"Oh who knows?" I rejoined with small sincerity. "I don't suppose
Iffield is absolutely a brute."
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