| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: spread on the table, poring over the crumpled sheets. The letter
began:
Hassim and Immada are going out to-night to look for you. You are
behind your time and every passing day makes things worse.
Ten days ago three of Belarab's men, who had been collecting
turtles' eggs on the islets, came flying back with a story of a
ship stranded on the outer mudflats. Belarab at once forbade any
boat from leaving the lagoon. So far good. There was a great
excitement in the village. I judge it must be a schooner--
probably some fool of a trader. However, you will know all about
her when you read this. You may say I might have pulled out to
The Rescue |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: nor wandering heart, and a mind never feverish with riotous
thoughts, nor perplexed with originality, who could have
anticipated that our friend would entitle himself to a foremost
place among the doers of eccentric deeds? Had his acquaintances
been asked, who was the man in London the surest to perform
nothing today which should be remembered on the morrow, they
would have thought of Wakefield. Only the wife of his bosom might
have hesitated. She, without having analyzed his character, was
partly aware of a quiet selfishness, that had rusted into his
inactive mind; of a peculiar sort of vanity, the most uneasy
attribute about him; of a disposition to craft which had seldom
Twice Told Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: but the work of a moment or two for the Chinaman to
creep stealthily through the dense underbrush to a
point directly above them and not three yards from
where they conversed in low tones--yet sufficiently
loud that Sing missed not a word.
"I tell you, Bududreen, that it will be quite safe,"
the tall Malay was saying. "You yourself tell me that
none knows of the whereabouts of these white men, and
if they do not return your word will be accepted as to
their fate. Your reward will be great if you bring the
girl to me, and if you doubt the loyalty of any of your
The Monster Men |
