| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: of the wall between the shanty and the stable. When the crowd came
shambling into the cabin, snickering and nudging one another, Jean
and Pierre were standing by the stove at the upper end of the long
table.
"Down with the canaille!" shouted Jean.
"Clean out the gang!" responded Pierre.
Brandishing long-handled frying-pans, they charged down the sides of
the table. The mob wavered, turned, and were lost! Helter-skelter
they fled, tumbling over one another in their haste to escape. The
lamp was smashed. The benches were upset. In the smoky hall a
furious din arose,--as if Sir Galahad and Sir Percivale were once
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: you are to be mine; I could even wish that, when we are dead, it
should cease to exist--should be destroyed. Yes, I would fain hide
from all nature a happiness which we alone can understand, alone
can feel, which is so stupendous that I throw myself into it only
to die--it is a gulf!
"Do not be alarmed by the tears that have wetted this page; they
are tears of joy. My only blessing, we need never part again!"
In 1823 I traveled from Paris to Touraine by /diligence/. At Mer we
took up a passenger for Blois. As the guard put him into that part of
the coach where I had my seat, he said jestingly:
"You will not be crowded, Monsieur Lefebvre!"--I was, in fact, alone.
Louis Lambert |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Market-Place by Harold Frederic: men who knew the contents, as well as the commercial value,
of the books they handled.
His grandfather had been a man of note in his calling.
The tradition of Lord Althorp's confidence in him, and of
how he requited it by securing Caxton's "Golden Legend"
for the library of that distinguished collector, under the
very nose of his hot rival, the Duke of Marlborough,
was tenderly cherished as an heirloom in the old shop.
And Thorpe's father, too, though no such single achievement
crowned his memory, had been the adviser and, as one might say,
the friend of many notable writers and patrons of literature.
The Market-Place |
