| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: he then did without ever striking a light. Perhaps it was because
of the darkness that he kept his eyes shut, and perhaps it was for
fear he would see the terrible gash on the cheek of his visitor;
but, be this as it may, it is a fact that, unseeing, he opened his
ammunition box, put a heavy charge into the muzzle of the shotgun
without spilling a particle, rammed it down with double wads, and
then put everything away and got back into bed.
Just as daylight laid its steel-gray fingers on the parchment
window, Jacob Kent awoke. Turning on his elbow, he raised the lid
and peered into the ammunition box. Whatever he saw, or whatever
he did not see, exercised a very peculiar effect upon him,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Study of a Woman by Honore de Balzac: precisely thus. I add nothing, and I suppress nothing.
The next morning Rastignac woke late and stayed in bed, giving himself
up to one of those matutinal reveries in the course of which a young
man glides like a sylph under many a silken, or cashmere, or cotton
drapery. The heavier the body from its weight of sleep, the more
active the mind. Rastignac finally got up, without yawning over-much
as many ill-bred persons are apt to do. He rang for his valet, ordered
tea, and drank immoderately of it when it came; which will not seem
extraordinary to persons who like tea; but to explain the circumstance
to others, who regard that beverage as a panacea for indigestion, I
will add that Eugene was, by this time, writing letters. He was
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: reverence for him must have perplexed him greatly.
He wished to have us call him master, but lacked
the firmness necessary to command us to do so. His
wife used to insist upon our calling him so, but to
no purpose. In August, 1832, my master attended a
Methodist camp-meeting held in the Bay-side, Tal-
bot county, and there experienced religion. I in-
dulged a faint hope that his conversion would lead
him to emancipate his slaves, and that, if he did not
do this, it would, at any rate, make him more kind
and humane. I was disappointed in both these re-
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
