| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: at last when he grew angry and out of patience with the daughter-in-
law who would not so much as tell him where David was hiding; he
determined to force the laboratory door, for he had discovered that
David was wont to make his experiments in the workshop where the
rollers were melted down.
He came downstairs very early one morning and set to work upon the
lock.
"Hey! Papa Sechard, what are you doing there?" Marion called out. (She
had risen at daybreak to go to her papermill, and now she sprang
across to the workshop.)
"I am in my own house, am I not?" said the old man, in some confusion.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: Thus feeding his mind with many sweet thoughts and "sugared
suppositions," he journeyed along the sides of a range of hills
which look out upon some of the goodliest scenes of the mighty
Hudson. The sun gradually wheeled his broad disk down in the
west. The wide bosom of the Tappan Zee lay motionless and glassy,
excepting that here and there a gentle undulation waved and
prolonged the blue shallow of the distant mountain. A few amber
clouds floated in the sky, without a breath of air to move them.
The horizon was of a fine golden tint, changing gradually into a
pure apple green, and from that into the deep blue of the mid-
heaven. A slanting ray lingered on the woody crests of the
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: which was called Village of Peace. The Indians of the warlike tribes bestowed
the appropriate name. The vast forests were rich in every variety of game; the
deep, swift streams were teeming with fish. Meat and grain in abundance,
buckskin for clothing, and soft furs for winter garments were to be had for
little labor. At first only a few wigwams were erected. Soon a large log
structure was thrown up and used as a church. Then followed a school, a mill,
and a workshop. The verdant fields were cultivated and surrounded by rail
fences. Horses and cattle grazed with the timid deer on the grassy plains.
The Village of Peace blossomed as a rose. The reports of the love and
happiness existing in this converted community spread from mouth to mouth,
from town to town, with the result that inquisitive savages journeyed from all
The Spirit of the Border |
