| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: felted covering, moulded to the top of the wearer's cranium, appeared
an elderly profile, half-official, half-soldierly, with a comical
admixture of arrogance,--altogether something like caricatures of the
/Constitutionnel/. The sometime official finding that age, and hair-
powder, and the conformation of his spine made it impossible to read a
word without spectacles, sat displaying a very creditable expanse of
chest with all the pride of an old man with a mistress. Like old
General Montcornet, that pillar of the Vaudeville, he wore earrings.
Denisart was partial to blue; his roomy trousers and well-worn
greatcoat were both of blue cloth.
" 'How long is it since that old fogy came here?' inquired Maxime,
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: greatest exertion of will power that he controlled his
muscles at all; but at last he succeeded in finding and
striking one. At the flare of the light there was a sound
from below--a scratching sound and the creaking of
boards as beneath a heavy body; then came the clank-
ing of the chain once more, and the bannister against
which they leaned shook as though a hand had been
laid upon it below them. The youth stifled a shriek and
simultaneously the match went out; but not before
Bridge had seen in the momentary flare of light a par-
tially open door at the far end of the hall in which they
The Oakdale Affair |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: books," the mother wrote; "everybody has contributed from their
store,--Shakespeare, Tennyson, Browning, Longfellow; and a number
of novels by Scott, Thackeray, George Eliot, Hawthorne, and
lesser writers; some volumes of Emerson; and Jane Austen
complete, because you admire her so particularly."
This consignment of literature reached Bear Creek about a week
before Christmas time.
By New Year's Day, the Virginian had begun his education.
"Well, I have managed to get through 'em," he said, as he entered
Molly's cabin in February. And he laid two volumes upon her
table.
The Virginian |
