| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: the greater number of those whose beauty is cited as perfect came to
some tragic end of love.
This apparent singularity must have a cause. It may be that man lives
more by sentiment than by sense; perhaps the physical charm of beauty
is limited, while the moral charm of a woman without beauty is
infinite. Is not this the moral of the fable on which the Arabian
Nights are based? An ugly wife of Henry VIII. might have defied the
axe, and subdued to herself the inconstancy of her master.
By a strange chance, not inexplicable, however, in a girl of Spanish
origin, Madame Claes was uneducated. She knew how to read and write,
but up to the age of twenty, at which time her parents withdrew her
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: "He knows he hasn't far to go," thought the mayor as the recruit left
the house. "That's a bold fellow! God guide him! He seemed to have his
answers ready. But he'd have been lost if any one but I had questioned
him and demanded to see his papers."
At that instant, the clocks of Carentan struck half-past nine; the
lanterns were lighted in Madame de Dey's antechamber; the servants
were helping their masters and mistresses to put on their clogs, their
cloaks, and their mantles; the card-players had paid their debts, and
all the guests were preparing to leave together after the established
customs of provincial towns.
"The prosecutor, it seems, has stayed behind," said a lady, perceiving
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: to piece many unrelated things together and get horrible results out
of the combination. When things had got about to the worst Richards
was delivered of a sudden gasp and his wife asked:
"Oh, what is it?--what is it?"
"The note--Burgess's note! Its language was sarcastic, I see it
now." He quoted: "'At bottom you cannot respect me, KNOWING, as
you do, of THAT MATTER OF which I am accused'--oh, it is perfectly
plain, now, God help me! He knows that I know! You see the
ingenuity of the phrasing. It was a trap--and like a fool, I walked
into it. And Mary--!"
"Oh, it is dreadful--I know what you are going to say --he didn't
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
