| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: was time. Next day, Louise, worn out with so much exertion, was unable
to go out; indeed, she only got up for dinner. In the course of the
evening, Madeleine de Lenoncourt, her two brothers, and her mother
arrived. The coolness which Louise's second marriage had caused
between herself and her family disappeared. Every day since that
evening, Louise's father and both her brothers have ridden over in the
morning, and the two duchesses spend all their evenings at the chalet.
Death unites as well as separates; it silences all paltry feeling.
Louise is perfection in her charm, her grace, her good sense, her wit,
and her tenderness. She has retained to the last that perfect tact for
which she has been so famous, and she lavishes on us the treasures of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: sold pop and iced lemonade under a white umbrella at the corner,
and made faces at the spruce youngsters who came to dance.
That vacant lot soon became the most cheerful place in town.
Even on the hottest afternoons the cottonwoods made a rustling shade,
and the air smelled of popcorn and melted butter, and Bouncing
Bets wilting in the sun. Those hardy flowers had run away from
the laundryman's garden, and the grass in the middle of the lot
was pink with them.
The Vannis kept exemplary order, and closed every evening
at the hour suggested by the city council. When Mrs. Vanni
gave the signal, and the harp struck up `Home, Sweet Home,'
My Antonia |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: carried up to the Acropolis at the great Panathenaea, is embroidered
with them. Are all these tales of the gods true, Euthyphro?
EUTHYPHRO: Yes, Socrates; and, as I was saying, I can tell you, if you
would like to hear them, many other things about the gods which
would quite amaze you.
SOCRATES: I dare say; and you shall tell me them at some other time when I
have leisure. But just at present I would rather hear from you a more
precise answer, which you have not as yet given, my friend, to the
question, What is 'piety'? When asked, you only replied, Doing as you do,
charging your father with murder.
EUTHYPHRO: And what I said was true, Socrates.
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