| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: his length closer to the earth. And so he lay, and talked to her
as he had never talked to any one, not even to himself. Thus she
learned secrets of his heart new to her: his visits here, what
they were to him, and why he had chosen it for their bridal camp.
"What I did not know at all," he said, "was the way a man can be
pining for--for this--and never guess what is the matter with
him."
Then he had finished talking, still he lay extended and serene;
and she looked down at him and the wonderful change that had come
over him, like a sunrise. Was this dreamy boy the man of two days
ago? It seemed a distance immeasurable; yet it was two days only
The Virginian |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: "I know where you knew her. You knew her at Geneva.
She told me so. Well, you knew me at Vevey. That's just as good.
So you ought to have come." She asked him no other question
than this; she began to prattle about her own affairs.
"We've got splendid rooms at the hotel; Eugenio says they're
the best rooms in Rome. We are going to stay all winter,
if we don't die of the fever; and I guess we'll stay then.
It's a great deal nicer than I thought; I thought it would
be fearfully quiet; I was sure it would be awfully poky.
I was sure we should be going round all the time with one of those
dreadful old men that explain about the pictures and things.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather: Sometimes he rose suddenly from his chair as if driven out,
and paced the deck for hours. People noticed
his propensity for walking in rough weather,
and watched him curiously as he did his
rounds. From his abstraction and the determined
set of his jaw, they fancied he must be thinking
about his bridge. Every one had heard of
the new cantilever bridge in Canada.
But Alexander was not thinking about his work.
After the fourth night out, when his will
suddenly softened under his hands, he had been
Alexander's Bridge |
