| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling: always thinking of himself, and he blurted out, before he knew what
he was saying, this inexpedient answer:--"No more I do."
The queerness of the situation and the reply, made Mrs. Landys-
Haggert laugh. Then it all came out; and at the end of Hannasyde's
lucid explanation, Mrs. Haggert said, with the least little touch of
scorn in her voice:--"So I'm to act as the lay-figure for you to
hang the rags of your tattered affections on, am I?"
Hannasyde didn't see what answer was required, and he devoted
himself generally and vaguely to the praise of Alice Chisane, which
was unsatisfactory. Now it is to be thoroughly made clear that Mrs.
Haggert had not the shadow of a ghost of an interest in Hannasyde.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: Though we marvel to see them ascending so high;
Things slight in themselves,--long-tail'd toys, and no more:
What is it that makes the kite steadily soar
Through the realms where the cloud and the whirlwind have birth
But the tie that attaches the kite to the earth?
I remember the lessons of childhood, you see,
And the hornbook I learn'd on my poor mother's knee.
In truth, I suspect little else do we learn
From this great book of life, which so shrewdly we turn,
Saving how to apply, with a good or bad grace,
What we learn'd in the hornbook of childhood.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: with him, he was scarcely even sensible that a man in the centre
of the cavalcade recited and sung, in a low tone, for nearly two
hours, modulating his voice to the various moods of passion
introduced into the tale, and receiving, in return, now low
murmurs of applause, now muttered expressions of wonder, now
sighs and tears, and sometimes, what it was far more difficult to
extract from such an audience, a tribute of smiles, and even
laughter.
During the recitation, the attention of the exile, however
abstracted by his own deep sorrow, was occasionally awakened by
the low wail of a dog, secured in a wicker enclosure suspended on
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