| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: She asserted very seriously one evening that she did not see any
difference between an ox and a bull. The dear chevalier instantly
arrested the peals of laughter by asserting that there was only the
difference between a sheep and a lamb.
But the Chevalier de Valois served an ungrateful dame, for never did
Mademoiselle Cormon comprehend his chivalrous services. Observing that
the conversation grew lively, she simply thought that she was not so
stupid as she was,--the result being that she settled down into her
ignorance with some complacency; she lost her timidity, and acquired a
self-possession which gave to her "speeches" something of the
solemnity with which the British enunciate their patriotic
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: knew it. There was a traitor in the harbor, who by means of signals
gave warning to the Emperor's enemies of his presence. Then Napoleon
fell back on a last resource; he did as he had been wont to do on the
battlefield: he went to his foes instead of letting them come to him.
Talk of troubles! No words could ever make you understand the misery
of those who loved him for his own sake."
"But where is his snuff-box?" asked La Fosseuse.
"It is in a box at Grenoble," the commandant replied.
"I will go over to see it, if you will let me. To think that you have
something in your possession that his fingers have touched! . . . Had
he a well-shaped hand?"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: afternoon in unloading barges. In the Basman district of
Moscow there was a gigantic "Saturdaying" and "Sundaying"
in which 2,000 persons (in this case all but a little over 500
being Communists) worked in the heavy artillery shops, shifting
materials, cleaning tramlines for bringing in fuel, etc.
Then there was a "Saturdaying" the main object of which
was a general autumn cleaning of the hospitals for the
wounded. One form of "Saturdaying" for women is going
to the hospitals, talking with the wounded and writing letters
for them, mending their clothes, washing sheets, etc. The
majority of "Saturdayings" at present are concerned with
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