| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: for a courage which the outside of no door had ever supplied
to her, she turned the lock in desperation, and the lights
of the drawing-room, and all the collected family,
were before her. As she entered, her own name caught
her ear. Sir Thomas was at that moment looking round him,
and saying, "But where is Fanny? Why do not I see
my little Fanny?"--and on perceiving her, came forward
with a kindness which astonished and penetrated her,
calling her his dear Fanny, kissing her affectionately,
and observing with decided pleasure how much she was grown!
Fanny knew not how to feel, nor where to look. She was
Mansfield Park |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: peculiarly constructed, which the young artist had recently
bespoken. Owen examined the article and pronounced it fashioned
according to his wish.
"Why, yes," said Robert Danforth, his strong voice filling the
shop as with the sound of a bass viol, "I consider myself equal
to anything in the way of my own trade; though I should have made
but a poor figure at yours with such a fist as this," added he,
laughing, as he laid his vast hand beside the delicate one of
Owen. "But what then? I put more main strength into one blow of
my sledge hammer than all that you have expended since you were a
'prentice. Is not that the truth?"
Mosses From An Old Manse |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: Before I left the cabin our eyes met--the eyes of the only
two strangers on board. I pointed to the recessed part where
the little campstool awaited him and laid my finger on my lips.
He made a gesture--somewhat vague--a little mysterious,
accompanied by a faint smile, as if of regret.
This is not the place to enlarge upon the sensations of a man
who feels for the first time a ship move under his feet to his
own independent word. In my case they were not unalloyed.
I was not wholly alone with my command; for there was that stranger
in my cabin. Or rather, I was not completely and wholly with her.
Part of me was absent. That mental feeling of being in two
The Secret Sharer |
