| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: was the first principle of military law), and the equally important
dogma which turns respect for the person of a King into a matter of
religion. In the priest's indecision he was eager to see a favorable
solution of the doubts which seemed to torment him. To prevent too
prolonged reflection on the part of the reverend Jansenist, he added:
"I should blush to offer remuneration of any kind for the funeral
service which you have just performed for the repose of the King's
soul and the relief of my conscience. The only possible return for
something of inestimable value is an offering likewise beyond price.
Will you deign, monsieur, to take my gift of a holy relic? A day will
perhaps come when you will understand its value."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: the tip of her umbrella and he swallowed the tip. Finally he got lost.
She had put him on the grass to cool him and went away only for a
second; when she returned, she found no parrot! She hunted among the
bushes, on the bank of the river, and on the roofs, without paying any
attention to Madame Aubain who screamed at her: "Take care! you must
be insane!" Then she searched every garden in Pont-l'Eveque and
stopped the passers-by to inquire of them: "Haven't you perhaps seen
my parrot?" To those who had never seen the parrot, she described him
minutely. Suddenly she thought she saw something green fluttering
behind the mills at the foot of the hill. But when she was at the top
of the hill she could not see it. A hod-carrier told her that he had
A Simple Soul |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: What a comfort it is to have such wells of wisdom constantly
at my disposal! Anybody can have a husband, but to few is it given
to have a sage, and the combination of both is as rare as it is useful.
Indeed, in its practical utility the only thing I ever saw to equal it
is a sofa my neighbour has bought as a Christmas surprise for her husband,
and which she showed me the last time I called there--a beautiful invention,
as she explained, combining a bedstead, a sofa, and a chest of drawers,
and into which you put your clothes, and on top of which you put yourself,
and if anybody calls in the middle of the night and you happen to be
using the drawing-room as a bedroom, you just pop the bedclothes inside,
and there you are discovered sitting on your sofa and looking for all
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
