| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: Therefore I have not deceived you by signing "O. d'Este M."
Neither have I misled you about our fortune; it will amount, I
believe, to the sum which rendered you so virtuous. I know that to
you money is a consideration of small importance; therefore I
speak of it without reserve. Let me tell you how happy it makes me
to give freedom of action to our happiness,--to be able to say,
when the fancy for travel takes us, "Come, let us go in a
comfortable carriage, sitting side by side, without a thought of
money"--happy, in short, to tell the king, "I have the fortune
which you require in your peers." Thus Modeste Mignon can be of
service to you, and her gold will have the noblest of uses.
Modeste Mignon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: both hands on the rail of the stair. "I know just how grave it is,"
she said quietly. "My grandfather will not leave one stone unturned,
and he can be terrible - terrible. But" - she looked directly into
my eyes as I stood below her on the stairs - "the time may come
- soon - when I can help you. I'm afraid I shall not want to; I'm
a dreadful coward, Mr. Blakeley. But - I will." She tried to smile.
"I wish you would let me help you," I said unsteadily. "Let us make
it a bargain: each help the other!"
The girl shook her head with a sad little smile. "I am only as
unhappy as I deserve to be," she said. And when I protested and
took a step toward her she retreated, with her hands out before her.
The Man in Lower Ten |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: The harmony of the musical scale, which is elsewhere used as a symbol of
the harmony of the state, is also indicated. For the numbers 3, 4, 5,
which represent the sides of the Pythagorean triangle, also denote the
intervals of the scale.
The terms used in the statement of the problem may be explained as follows.
A perfect number (Greek), as already stated, is one which is equal to the
sum of its divisors. Thus 6, which is the first perfect or cyclical
number, = 1 + 2 + 3. The words (Greek), 'terms' or 'notes,' and (Greek),
'intervals,' are applicable to music as well as to number and figure.
(Greek) is the 'base' on which the whole calculation depends, or the
'lowest term' from which it can be worked out. The words (Greek) have been
The Republic |
