| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: hardly; Pons was a glutton. A narrow income, combined with a passion
for bric-a-brac, condemned him to a regimen so abhorrent to a
discriminating palate, that, bachelor as he was, he had cut the knot
of the problem by dining out every day.
Now, in the time of the Empire, celebrities were more sought after
than at present, perhaps because there were so few of them, perhaps
because they made little or no political pretension. In those days,
besides, you could set up for a poet, a musician, or a painter, with
so little expense. Pons, being regarded as the probable rival of
Nicolo, Paer, and Berton, used to receive so many invitations, that he
was forced to keep a list of engagements, much as barristers note down
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: white shimmy dress you wore the night of Flo's party. Thet's my invitation
to get a little fresh with you, Pretty Eyes!"
Carley could only stare at him. His words seemed to have some peculiar,
unanswerable power.
"Wal, if it wasn't an invitation, what was it?" he asked, with another step
that brought him within reach of her. He waited for her answer, which was
not forthcoming.
"Wal, you're gettin' kinda pale around the gills," he went on, derisively.
"I reckoned you was a real sport. . . . Come here."
He fastened one of his great hands in the front of her coat and gave her a
pull. So powerful was it that Carley came hard against him, almost knocking
 The Call of the Canyon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: nonsense about an autonomous British Empire complete in
itself, contra mundum, the better for us. A world control is
fifty years overdue. Hence these disorders. "
"Still--it's rather a difficult proposition, as things are."
"Oh, Lord! don't I know it's difficult!" cried Sir Richmond
in the tone of one who swears. "Don't I know that perhaps
it's impossible! But it's the only way to do it. Therefore, I
say, let's try to get it done. And everybody says, difficult,
difficult, and nobody lifts a finger to try. And the only
real difficulty is that everybody for one reason or another
says that it's difficult. It's against human nature. Granted!
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