| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: continued Lydia. "And to tell the truth, I have learned to respect these
rugged fellows. They are uncouth; they have no manners, but their hearts are
honest and true, and that is of much greater importance in frontiersmen than
the little attentions and courtesies upon which women are apt to lay too much
stress."
"I think you speak sensibly and I shall try and be more reasonable hereafter.
But, to return to the man who spoiled my ride. He, at least, is no
frontiersman, notwithstanding his gun and his buckskin suit. He is an educated
man. His manner and accent showed that. Then he looked at me so differently. I
know it was that soldier from Fort Pitt."
"Mr. Clarke? Why, of course!" exclaimed Lydia, clapping her hands in glee.
Betty Zane |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: and go to sleep with his boots for a pillow. When this barge-load of
unexpected money came to him and his pink but perky partner, George,
and they hied themselves to this clump of outhouses called Atascosa
City, you know what happened to them. They had money to buy anything
they wanted; but they didn't know what to want. Their ideas of
spendthriftiness were limited to three--whisky, saddles, and gold
watches. If there was anything else in the world to throw away
fortunes on, they had never heard about it. So, when they wanted to
have a hot time, they'd ride into town and get a city directory and
stand in front of the principal saloon and call up the population
alphabetically for free drinks. Then they would order three or four
Heart of the West |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: sound or wasted time. In his joy he did not notice at first the table
where the diamonds lay. I flung myself upon these, and deftly filled
the pockets of my sailor jacket and trousers with the stones. Ah!
Heaven, I did not take the third of them. Gold ingots lay underneath
the table. I persuaded my companion to fill as many bags as we could
carry with the gold, and made him understand that this was our only
chance of escaping detection abroad.
" 'Pearls, rubies, and diamonds might be recognized,' I told him.
"Covetous though we were, we could not possibly take more than two
thousand livres weight of gold, which meant six journeys across the
prison to the gondola. The sentinel at the water gate was bribed with
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