| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: in one?" the cashier remarked to himself as he glanced at Lucien.
"I will come in again at four, sir," said Lucien.
While the argument proceeded, Lucien had been looking about him. He
saw upon the walls the portraits of Benjamin Constant, General Foy,
and the seventeen illustrious orators of the Left, interspersed with
caricatures at the expense of the Government; but he looked more
particularly at the door of the sanctuary where, no doubt, the paper
was elaborated, the witty paper that amused him daily, and enjoyed the
privilege of ridiculing kings and the most portentous events, of
calling anything and everything in question with a jest. Then he
sauntered along the boulevards. It was an entirely novel amusement;
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: And the little Mermaid laughed for pleasure and hid her face in her
hands.
'But how shall I send my soul from me?' cried the young Fisherman.
'Tell me how I may do it, and lo! it shall be done.'
'Alas! I know not,' said the little Mermaid: 'the Sea-folk have
no souls.' And she sank down into the deep, looking wistfully at
him.
Now early on the next morning, before the sun was the span of a
man's hand above the hill, the young Fisherman went to the house of
the Priest and knocked three times at the door.
The novice looked out through the wicket, and when he saw who it
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: play intolerable parts. They were ever uprais-
ing the ghost of shame on the stick of their
curiosity. He turned toward the tattered man as
one at bay. "Now, don't bother me," he re-
peated with desperate menace.
"Well, Lord knows I don't wanta bother any-
body," said the other. There was a little accent
of despair in his voice as he replied, "Lord
knows I 've gota 'nough m' own t' tend to."
The youth, who had been holding a bitter de-
bate with himself and casting glances of hatred
The Red Badge of Courage |
