| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: to have excited my desires, she came to me. The scandal resounded
through England, where the aristocracy was horrified like heaven
itself at the fall of its highest angel. Lady Dudley abandoned her
place in the British empyrean, gave up her wealth, and endeavored to
eclipse by her sacrifices HER whose virtue had been the cause of this
great disaster. She took delight, like the devil on the pinnacle of
the temple, in showing me all the riches of her passionate kingdom.
Read me, I pray you, with indulgence. The matter concerns one of the
most interesting problems of human life,--a crisis to which most men
are subjected, and which I desire to explain, if only to place a
warning light upon the reef. This beautiful woman, so slender, so
The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: down at his side; "I should think you were eighty to hear you talk," and then
Mabel had her punishment by being chased down the path and plumped down rather
hard in the veriest tangle of brambles and briars. It chanced, however, that
her corduroy skirt furnished all the protection needed from the sharp little
thorns, so that, like "Brer Rabbit," she called out exultingly, " 'Born and
bred in a briar-patch, Brer Rudolph, born and bred in a briar-patch,'" and
could have sat there quite comfortably, no one`knows how long, but that she
heard the maple sugar go tumbling into the kettle. And then she heard Tattine
say, "A cup of water to two pounds, isn't it?" Then she heard the water go
splash on top of the maple sugar. Now she could stand it no longer, and,
clearing the briars at one bound, was almost back at the camp with another.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: help it. It was during the morning intermission,
and he came upon her seated all alone under a haw-
thorn hedge, studying her arithmetic anxiously.
She was in blue, as usual, and a very perky blue bow
sat on her soft, dark hair, like a bluebird. She
glanced up at Jim from under her long lashes.
"Do two and seven make eight or ten? If you
please, will you tell me?" said she.
"Say, Lucy," said Jim, "will you marry me by
and by?"
Lucy stared at him uncomprehendingly.
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