| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: which we will call self-esteem, if you will, to prevent confusion by
using the word "honor." When a man despises himself, and sees that
others despise him, when real life fails to fulfil his hopes, then
comes the moment when he takes his life, and thereby does homage to
society--shorn of his virtues or his splendor, he does not care to
face his fellows. Among atheists--Christians being without the
question of suicide--among atheists, whatever may be said to the
contrary, none but a base coward can take up a dishonored life.
There are three kinds of suicide--the first is only the last and acute
stage of a long illness, and this kind belongs distinctly to
pathology; the second is the suicide of despair; and the third the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: bit of an opportunity. He laughed. "You don't understand,
little one," he said tenderly; "the relations of professional
people to each other are peculiar. After you go to Paris, you
will know."
Still, New Orleans had built up its romance, and gossiped
accordingly.
"Have you heard the news?" whispered Lola to Annette, leaning
from her box at the opera one night. The curtain had just gone
up on "Herodias," and for some reason or other, the audience
applauded with more warmth than usual. There was a noticeable
number of good-humoured, benignant smiles on the faces of the
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith: behind them.
When they reentered the sitting-room, an hour later, Jennie's lips
were quivering. Tom's mouth was firmly set. Her mind was made
up.
She would fight it out to the bitter end.
VI
THE BIG GRAY GOES HUNGRY
That invincible spirit which dwelt in Tom's breast--that spirit
which had dared Lathers, outwitted Duffy, cowed Crimmins, and
braved the Union, did not, strange to say, dominate all the
members of her own household. One defied her. This was no other
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