| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: equally heroic English, in defence of their native soil--who had set
to all Europe the example of all knightly virtues, had rotted down
to this; their only virtue left, as Mr. Carlyle says, being--a
perfect readiness to fight duels.
Every Intendant, chosen by the Comptroller-General out of the lower-
born members of the Council of State; a needy young plebeian with
his fortune to make, and a stranger to the province, was, in spite
of his greed, ambition, chicane, arbitrary tyranny, a better man--
abler, more energetic, and often, to judge from the pages of De
Tocqueville, with far more sympathy and mercy for the wretched
peasantry--than was the count or marquis in the chateau above, who
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: the Marechal de Richelieu--think of all these in a single man, and you
will have some idea of their way of love. What lovers! Eclectic of all
things in love, they will serve up a passion to a woman's order; their
hearts are like a bill of fare in a restaurant. Perhaps they have
never read Stendhal's /De l'Amour/, but unconsciously they put it in
practice. They have by heart their chapters--Love-Taste, Love-Passion,
Love-Caprice, Love-Crystalized, and more than all, Love-Transient. All
is good in their eyes. They invented the burlesque axiom, 'In the
sight of man, all women are equal.' The actual text is more vigorously
worded, but as in my opinion the spirit is false, I do not stand nice
upon the letter.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: lay beautifully cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised
such cereals, fruits, and vegetables as they required.
Women and children were working in these gardens as we crossed
toward the village. At sight of Ja they saluted deferentially,
but to me they paid not the slightest attention.
Among them and about the outer verge of the cultivated area
were many warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching
the points of their spears to the ground directly before them.
Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the
village--the house with eight rooms--and taking me up
into it gave me food and drink. There I met his mate,
At the Earth's Core |
