| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde: good enough for you, Mabel.
MABEL CHILTERN. [Nestling close to him.] I am so glad, darling. I
was afraid you were.
LORD GORING. [After some hesitation.] And I'm . . . I'm a little
over thirty.
MABEL CHILTERN. Dear, you look weeks younger than that.
LORD GORING. [Enthusiastically.] How sweet of you to say so! . . .
And it is only fair to tell you frankly that I am fearfully
extravagant.
MABEL CHILTERN. But so am I, Arthur. So we're sure to agree. And
now I must go and see Gertrude.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: free.
But soon the Barbarians posted an immense raft in front of it in order
to prevent the Carthaginians from coming out. They were again rearing
the wooden towers, and the terrace was rising at the same time.
Outside communications were cut off and an intolerable famine set in.
The besieged killed all the dogs, all the mules, all the asses, and
then the fifteen elephants which the Suffet had brought back. The
lions of the temple of Moloch had become ferocious, and the hierodules
no longer durst approach them. They were fed at first with the wounded
Barbarians; then they were thrown corpses that were still warm; they
refused them, and they all died. People wandered in the twilight along
Salammbo |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: All the period since 1861 should be rightly recorded as the reign
of Tze Hsi An, a more eventful period than all the two hundred
and forty-four reigns that had preceded her three usurpations. It
began after a conquering army had made terms of peace in her
capital, and with the Tai-ping rebellion in full swing of
success. . . .
Those few who have looked upon the countenance of the Dowager
describe her as a tall, erect, fine-looking woman of
distinguished and imperious bearing, with pronounced Tartar
features, the eye of an eagle, and the voice of determined
authority and absolute command. --Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore in
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