| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: different classes of youth; and I receive many letters from parents
respecting the education of their children. In the mass of these
letters I am always struck by the precedence which the idea of a
"position in life" takes above all other thoughts in the parents'--
more especially in the mothers'--minds. "The education befitting
such and such a STATION IN LIFE"--this is the phrase, this the
object, always. They never seek, as far as I can make out, an
education good in itself; even the conception of abstract rightness
in training rarely seems reached by the writers. But, an education
"which shall keep a good coat on my son's back;--which shall enable
him to ring with confidence the visitors' bell at double-belled
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Love and Friendship by Jane Austen: and has since actually married a Neapolitan Lady of great Rank
and Fortune. He tells us moreover that much the same sort of
affair has befallen his first wife the worthless Louisa who is
likewise at Naples had turned Roman-catholic, and is soon to be
married to a Neapolitan Nobleman of great and Distinguished
merit. He says, that they are at present very good Freinds, have
quite forgiven all past errors and intend in future to be very
good Neighbours. He invites Matilda and me to pay him a visit to
Italy and to bring him his little Louisa whom both her Mother,
Step-mother, and himself are equally desirous of beholding. As
to our accepting his invitation, it is at Present very uncertain;
Love and Friendship |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Juana by Honore de Balzac: undoubtedly, the merchant and his wife had hidden the love and
joyfulness of their old age. The ware-room of the "entresol" separated
him from the rooms on the ground-floor. The captain therefore could
not have recourse to noises significantly made from one floor to the
other, an artificial language which all lovers know well how to
create. But chance, or it may have been the young girl herself, came
to his assistance. At the moment when he stationed himself at his
window, he saw, on the black wall of the courtyard, a circle of light,
in the centre of which the silhouette of Juana was clearly defined;
the consecutive movement of the arms, and the attitude, gave evidence
that she was arranging her hair for the night.
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