| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: application for yourself. So far, you have only cut your two trusses
of hay; we are afraid of setting fire to our paper-mill by bringing in
a couple of thousand trusses. In other words, we may spoil more than
one batch, make heavy losses, and find ourselves none the better for
laying out a good deal of money."
David was completely floored by this reasoning. Practical wisdom spoke
in matter-of-fact language to theory, whose word is always for the
future.
"Devil fetch me, if I'll sign such a deed of partnership!" the stout
Cointet cried bluntly. "You may throw away your money if you like,
Boniface; as for me, I shall keep mine. Here is my offer--to pay M.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: her money. Such proof of his innate nobility
made him admire himself greatly. Mahin
helped Lisa to carry out her decision. And the
more he did so, the more he came to realise the
new world of Lisa's spiritual ambitions, quite un-
known to him heretofore.
VIII
ALL were silent in the common cell. Stepan was
lying in his bed, but was not yet asleep. Vassily
approached him, and, pulling him by his leg,
asked him in a whisper to get up and to come to
The Forged Coupon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf: Somehow when I read the paper, I begin with the debates first, and,
before I've done, the door always opens--we're a very large party
at home--and so one never does think enough about the ancients
and all they've done for us. But _you_ begin at the beginning,
Miss Allan."
"When I think of the Greeks I think of them as naked black men,"
said Miss Allan, "which is quite incorrect, I'm sure."
"And you, Mr. Hirst?" said Mrs. Thornbury, perceiving that the gaunt
young man was near. "I'm sure you read everything."
"I confine myself to cricket and crime," said Hirst. "The worst
of coming from the upper classes," he continued, "is that one's
|
