| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: himself,--"Peter Goldthwaite, did you never strike this blow
before?" or, "Peter, what need of tearing the whole house down?
Think a little while, and you will remember where the gold is
hidden." Days and weeks passed on, however, without any
remarkable discovery. Sometimes, indeed, a lean, gray rat peeped
forth at the lean, gray man, wondering what devil had got into
the old house, which had always been so peaceable till now. And,
occasionally, Peter sympathized with the sorrows of a female
mouse, who had brought five or six pretty, little, soft and
delicate young ones into the world just in time to see them
crushed by its ruin. But, as yet, no treasure!
Twice Told Tales |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: might have satisfied Anne of Austria.
Madame Jules had realized this charming programme, but that was
nothing. All women of taste can do as much, though there is always in
the arrangement of these details a stamp of personality which gives to
this decoration or that detail a character that cannot be imitated.
To-day, more than ever, reigns the fanaticism of individuality. The
more our laws tend to an impossible equality, the more we shall get
away from it in our manners and customs. Thus, rich people are
beginning, in France, to become more exclusive in their tastes and
their belongings, than they have been for the last thirty years.
Madame Jules knew very well how to carry out this programme; and
Ferragus |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: shall save our money to buy nails."
"Oh, how paltry and mean is all this that you are telling
me, monsieur le cardinal!"
"Yes, but nevertheless it is true, sire; you must confess
that. Still further. Suppose I admit, for a moment, the
possibility of breaking your word, and evading the treaty --
such a thing sometimes happens, but that is when some great
interest is to be promoted by it, or when the treaty is
found to be too troublesome -- well, you will authorize the
engagement asked of you: France -- her banner, which is the
same thing -- will cross the Straits and will fight; France
Ten Years Later |
