| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: pleasure grounds round La Baudraye, and paid, almost with generosity,
the seven or eight thousand francs required by Dinah for improvements
in the house, enabling her to buy the furniture at the Rougets' sale
at Issoudun, and to redecorate her rooms in various styles--Mediaeval,
Louis XIV., and Pompadour. The young wife found it difficult to
believe that Monsieur de la Baudraye was so miserly as he was reputed,
or else she must have great influence with him. The illusion lasted a
year and a half.
After Monsieur de la Baudraye's second journey to Paris, Dinah
discovered in him the Artic coldness of a provincial miser whenever
money was in question. The first time she asked for supplies she
The Muse of the Department |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: before this anti-religious inscription. It is perhaps
worth while to remark in passing that the new Communist
programme, while insisting, as before, on the definite
separation of church and state, and church and school, now
includes the particular statement that "care should be taken
in no way to hurt the feelings of the religious." Churches and
chapels are open, church processions take place as before,
and Moscow, as in the old days, is still a city of church bells.
A long line of sledges with welcome bags of flour was
passing through the square. Soldiers of the Red Army were
coming off parade, laughing and talking, and very noticeably
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: give him access to all that he wants in the archives, and he passes
his evenings with all the eminent men and beautiful women of Paris.
Guizot, Thiers, Lamartine, Cousin, Salvandi, Thierry, he sees, and
enjoys all. They take him to the salons, too, of the Faubourg St.
Germain, among the old French aristocracy, and to innumerable
receptions.
Wednesday
To-morrow I go to the Drawing-Room alone, and to complete the
climax, the Queen has sent us an invitation to dine at the Palace
to-morrow, and I must go ALONE for the FIRST TIME. If I live
through it, I will tell you all about it; but is it not awkward in
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