| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: applied by the gay world to that ruined gentleman),--Toby, who at
twenty-five years of age was still considered only fourteen, was
expected to groom the horses, clean the cabriolet, or the tilbury, and
the harnesses, accompany his master, take care of the apartments, and
be in the princess's antechamber to announce a visitor, if, by chance,
she happened to receive one.
When one thinks of what the beautiful Duchesse de Maufrigneuse had
been under the Restoration,--one of the queens of Paris, a dazzling
queen, whose luxurious existence equalled that of the richest women of
fashion in London,--there was something touching in the sight of her
in that humble little abode in the rue de Miromesnil, a few steps away
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: it is not so amusing where there is no prize to jump for."
The Flea was the first to step forward. He had exquisite manners, and bowed to
the company on all sides; for he had noble blood, and was, moreover,
accustomed to the society of man alone; and that makes a great difference.
Then came the Grasshopper. He was considerably heavier, but he was
well-mannered, and wore a green uniform, which he had by right of birth; he
said, moreover, that he belonged to a very ancient Egyptian family, and that
in the house where he then was, he was thought much of. The fact was, he had
been just brought out of the fields, and put in a pasteboard house, three
stories high, all made of court-cards, with the colored side inwards; and
doors and windows cut out of the body of the Queen of Hearts. "I sing so
Fairy Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Proposed Roads To Freedom by Bertrand Russell: Meanwhile, the reaction had been everywhere
gaining ground. In May, 1849, an insurrection in
Dresden for a moment made the revolutionaries masters
of the town. They held it for five days and
established a revolutionary government. Bakunin
was the soul of the defense which they made against
the Prussian troops. But they were overpowered,
and at last Bakunin was captured while trying to
escape with Heubner and Richard Wagner, the last
of whom, fortunately for music, was not captured.
Now began a long period of imprisonment in
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