| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: truffled chickens, fit to melt your heart; and above these, and more
than all these, of the famous Rhine carp, only known at Paris, served
with what condiments! There were days when Pons, thinking upon Count
Popinot's cook, would sigh aloud, "Ah, Sophie!" Any passer-by hearing
the exclamation might have thought that the old man referred to a lost
mistress; but his fancy dwelt upon something rarer, on a fat Rhine
carp with a sauce, thin in the sauce-boat, creamy upon the palate, a
sauce that deserved the Montyon prize! The conductor of the orchestra,
living on memories of past dinners, grew visibly leaner; he was pining
away, a victim to gastric nostalgia.
By the beginning of the fourth month (towards the end of January,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Adventure by Jack London: Berande, and there was nothing to do but hang on and muddle through
somehow.
"At first we made the mistake of indiscreet kindness. We tried to
rule by persuasion and fair treatment. The niggers concluded that
we were afraid. I blush to think of what fools we were in those
first days. We were imposed on, and threatened and insulted; and
we put up with it, hoping our square-dealing would soon mend
things. Instead of which everything went from bad to worse. Then
came the day when Hughie reprimanded one of the boys and was nearly
killed by the gang. The only thing that saved him was the number
on top of him, which enabled me to reach the spot in time.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Damaged Goods by Upton Sinclair: paid to it! If I had been sure of getting money enough, I would
have put it out to nurse. But with the twenty-five or thirty
francs a month I could have earned as a servant, could I have
paid for a baby? That's the situation a girl faces--so long as I
wanted to remain honest, it was impossible for me to keep my
child. You answer, perhaps, 'You didn't stay honest anyway.'
That's true. But then--when you are hungry, and a nice young
fellow offers you dinner, you'd have to be made of wood to refuse
him. Of course, if I had had a trade--but I didn't have any. So
I went on the street--You know how it is."
"Tell us about it," said the doctor. "This gentleman is from the
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