| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: "The property is yours: it is for you to fix the price."
Nekhludoff named the price. Though it was far below that paid in
the neighbourhood, the peasants declared it too high, and began
bargaining, as is customary among them. Nekhludoff thought his
offer would be accepted with pleasure, but no signs of pleasure
were visible.
One thing only showed Nekhludoff that his offer was a profitable
one to the peasants. The question as to who would rent the land,
the whole commune or a special society, was put, and a violent
dispute arose among those peasants who were in favour of
excluding the weak and those not likely to pay the rent
Resurrection |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: Flutter, flutter, went the flag, first to the right, then to
the left. It was too far for me to recognise anyone there, but
afterwards I learned that Ogilvy, Stent, and Henderson were
with others in this attempt at communication. This little
group had in its advance dragged inward, so to speak, the
circumference of the now almost complete circle of people,
and a number of dim black figures followed it at discreet
distances.
Suddenly there was a flash of light, and a quantity of
luminous greenish smoke came out of the pit in three distinct
puffs, which drove up, one after the other, straight into the
War of the Worlds |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: the proper functions of a handsome Italian at an evening party.
He sang very prettily half a dozen songs, though Mrs. Walker afterward
declared that she had been quite unable to find out who asked him.
It was apparently not Daisy who had given him his orders.
Daisy sat at a distance from the piano, and though she had publicly,
as it were, professed a high admiration for his singing, talked,
not inaudibly, while it was going on.
"It's a pity these rooms are so small; we can't dance," she said
to Winterbourne, as if she had seen him five minutes before.
"I am not sorry we can't dance," Winterbourne answered;
"I don't dance."
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