| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: stern orderliness, Benham," said Prothero, "only leads to me. The
human spirit rebels against this everlasting armour on the soul.
After Han came T'ang. Have you never read Ling Po? There's scraps
of him in English in that little book you have--what is it?--the
LUTE OF JADE? He was the inevitable Epicurean; the Omar Khayyam
after the Prophet. Life must relax at last. . . ."
"No!" cried Benham. "If it is traditional, I admit, yes; but if it
is creative, no. . . ."
Under the stimulation of their undying controversy Benham was driven
to closer enquiries into Chinese thought. He tried particularly to
get to mental grips with English-speaking Chinese. "We still know
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: France about organizing labor, and you have not yet organized
property. So this is what happens: Any duke--and even in the time of
Louis XVIII. and Charles X. there were some left who had two hundred
thousand francs a year, a magnificent residence, and a sumptuous train
of servants--well, such a duke could live like a great lord. The last
of these great gentlemen in France was the Prince de Talleyrand.--This
duke leaves four children, two of them girls. Granting that he has
great luck in marrying them all well, each of these descendants will
have but sixty or eighty thousand francs a year now; each is the
father or mother of children, and consequently obliged to live with
the strictest economy in a flat on the ground floor or first floor of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: But here, too, were no signs of life or company, no comfort, no
attendance. The ashes of the logs, by whose blaze Mademoiselle
had told me the secret, lay on the hearth white and cold fit
emblem of the change that had taken place; and now and then a
drop of moisture, sliding down the great chimney, pattered among
them. The main door stood open, as if the house had no longer
anything to guard. The only living thing to be seen was a hound
which roamed about restlessly, now gazing at the empty hearth now
lying down with pricked cars and watchful eyes. Some leaves,
which had been blown in by the wind, rustled in a corner.
I went out moodily into the garden and wandered down one path and
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