| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: statuette of Sainte-Genevieve plying her distaff. Though time had left
its mark upon the delicate workmanship of portal and shrine, the
extreme care taken of it by the servants of the house allowed the
passers-by to note all its details.
The casing of the door, formed by fluted pilasters, was dark gray in
color, and so highly polished that it shone as if varnished. On either
side of the doorway, on the ground-floor, were two windows, which
resembled all the other windows of the house. The casing of white
stone ended below the sill in a richly carved shell, and rose above
the window in an arch, supported at its apex by the head-piece of a
cross, which divided the glass sashes in four unequal parts; for the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: before God and man.
These views are not mine only. They have been already set forth so
much more forcibly by M. de Tocqueville, that I should have thought
it unnecessary to talk about them, were not the rhetorical phrases,
"Caste," "Privileged Classes," "Aristocratic Exclusiveness," and
such-like, bandied about again just now, as if they represented
facts. If there remain in this kingdom any facts which correspond
to those words, let them be abolished as speedily as possible: but
that such do remain was not the opinion of the master of modern
political philosophy, M. de Tocqueville.
He expresses his surprise "that the fact which distinguishes England
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: far as the girl was concerned, but his eyelids
drooped. There was still something in the way.
For one thing Hermann disliked him so much. As
to me, on the contrary, it seemed as though he could
not praise me enough. Mrs. Hermann too. He
didn't know why they disliked him so. It made
everything most difficult.
I listened impassive, feeling more and more dip-
lomatic. His speech was not transparently clear.
He was one of those men who seem to live, feel,
suffer in a sort of mental twilight. But as to being
Falk |
