| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: which he may take it into his head to commit."
"No, no, not a single word like accession," replied Bucklaw;
"you know too well the risk belonging to these two terrible
words, 'art and part.'" Then, as if to himself, he recited the
following lines:
"The dial spoke not, but it made shrewd signs,
And pointed full upon the stroke of murder.
"What is that you are talking to yourself?" said
Craigengelt, turning back with some anxiety.
"Nothing, only two lines I have heard upon the stage," replied
his companion.
 The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: over himself in handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked
like diamonds, rubies, emeralds; he could think of nothing
beautiful which it did not resemble. The trees upon the bank
were giant garden plants; he noted a definite order in their
arrangement, inhaled the fragrance of their blooms. A
strange roseate light shone through the spaces among their
trunks and the wind made in their branches the music of
AEolian harps. He had not wish to perfect his escape -- he
was content to remain in that enchanting spot until retaken.
A whiz and a rattle of grapeshot among the branches high
above his head roused him from his dream. The baffled
 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: sunnily from their vase. The little room was very quiet except
for the ticking of the smart, leather-encased clock on the desk.
The closed door shut out factory and office sounds. And Emma
McChesney stood with one hand over her eyes. So Napoleon might
have stood after Waterloo.
After this first lesson, Mrs. McChesney did not err again. When,
two days later, Miss Sharp, of Berg Brothers, Omaha, breezed in,
looking strangely juvenile and distinctly anticipatory, Emma
greeted her smilingly and waved her toward the door opposite.
Miss Sharp, the erstwhile bristling, was strangely smooth and
sleek. She glanced ever so softly, sighed ever so flutteringly.
 Emma McChesney & Co. |