The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: fascinated by this tenderness apart from wit, always and in all things
the same, an affection that was jealous of mere nothings--already!
"You care very much for luxury?" said he one evening to Francesca, who
was expressing her wish to get away from Gersau, where she missed many
things.
"I!" cried she. "I love luxury as I love the arts, as I love a picture
by Raphael, a fine horse, a beautiful day, or the Bay of Naples.
Emilio," she went on, "have I ever complained here during our days of
privation."
"You would not have been yourself if you had," replied the old man
gravely.
Albert Savarus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: Such depredations are not frequent, and only occur with books easily
replaced, and do not therefore call for more than a passing mention;
but it is a serious matter when Nature produces such a wicked old
biblioclast as John Bagford, one of the founders of the Society
of Antiquaries, who, in the beginning of the last century, went about
the country, from library to library, tearing away title pages from rare
books of all sizes. These he sorted out into nationalities and towns,
and so, with a lot of hand-bills, manuscript notes, and miscellaneous
collections of all kinds, formed over a hundred folio volumes,
now preserved in the British Museum. That they are of service as
materials in compiling a general history of printing cannot be denied,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: I slipped the garment over my back, something hard fell from one of
the pockets into the bottom of the canoe. It was a brier-wood pipe.
"Aha! Pat," I cried; "what is this? You said you had thrown all
your pipes away. How does this come in your pocket?"
"But, m'sieu'," he answered, "this is different. This is not the
pipe pure and simple. It is a souvenir. It is the one you gave me
two years ago on the Metabetchouan, when we got the big caribou. I
could not reject this. I keep it always for the remembrance."
At this moment my hand fell upon a small, square object in the other
pocket of the coat. I pulled it out. It was a cake of Virginia
leaf. Without a word, I held it up, and looked at Patrick. He
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