| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: were now prepared for any thing. We were to be
dragged that morning fifteen miles behind horses,
and then to be placed in the Easton jail. When we
reached St. Michael's, we underwent a sort of exami-
nation. We all denied that we ever intended to run
away. We did this more to bring out the evidence
against us, than from any hope of getting clear of
being sold; for, as I have said, we were ready for
that. The fact was, we cared but little where we
went, so we went together. Our greatest concern was
about separation. We dreaded that more than any
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: "Except for me, today," she said, "she has not a relation in the world."
Did she by describing her niece as amiable and unencumbered wish
to represent her as a parti?
It was perfectly true that I could not afford to go on with my
rooms at a fancy price and that I had already devoted to my
undertaking almost all the hard cash I had set apart for it.
My patience and my time were by no means exhausted, but I should
be able to draw upon them only on a more usual Venetian basis.
I was willing to pay the venerable woman with whom my pecuniary dealings
were such a discord twice as much as any other padrona di casa would
have asked, but I was not willing to pay her twenty times as much.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: mountains he became a prey to a kind of spurious and uneven poetry,
which may have corrupted his demeanour."
"It has," says Mrs. Sampson. "Ever since I knew him he has been
reciting to me a lot of irreligious rhymes by some person he calls
Ruby Ott, and who is no better than she should be, if you judge by her
poetry."
"Then Idaho has struck a new book," says I, "for the one he had was by
a man who writes under the /nom de plume/ of K. M."
"He'd better have stuck to it," says Mrs. Sampson, "whatever it was.
And to-day he caps the vortex. I get a bunch of flowers from him, and
on 'em is pinned a note. Now, Mr. Pratt, you know a lady when you see
Heart of the West |
