The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: gives no extra trouble,' with scrupulous fairness of the most gloomy
kind. He was rather a silent man with a great sense of his personal
worth which made his speeches guarded. The cook, a neat man with
fair side whiskers, who had been only three years in the ship,
seemed the least concerned. He was even known to have inquired once
or twice as to the success of some of his dishes with the captain's
wife. This was considered a sort of disloyal falling away from the
ruling feeling.
The mate's annoyance was yet the easiest to understand. As he let
it out to Powell before the first week of the passage was over:
'You can't expect me to be pleased at being chucked out of the
 Chance |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: Dame Vervelle, adorned by their only daughter, it is necessary to cast
an eye on the anterior life of Pierre Grassou of Fougeres.
When a pupil, Fougeres had studied drawing with Servin, who was
thought a great draughtsman in academic circles. After that he went to
Schinner's, to learn the secrets of the powerful and magnificent color
which distinguishes that master. Master and scholars were all
discreet; at any rate Pierre discovered none of their secrets. From
there he went to Sommervieux' atelier, to acquire that portion of the
art of painting which is called composition, but composition was shy
and distant to him. Then he tried to snatch from Decamps and Granet
the mystery of their interior effects. The two masters were not
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: cool, all of them put on most beautiful azure robes, and, sitting on the
ground, at night, over the embers of the sacrifices by which they had
sworn, and extinguishing all the fire about the temple, they received and
gave judgment, if any of them had an accusation to bring against any one;
and when they had given judgment, at daybreak they wrote down their
sentences on a golden tablet, and dedicated it together with their robes to
be a memorial.
There were many special laws affecting the several kings inscribed about
the temples, but the most important was the following: They were not to
take up arms against one another, and they were all to come to the rescue
if any one in any of their cities attempted to overthrow the royal house;
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