| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: the calm of innocence. No matter how firmly family laws and religious
precepts may bind, there will always be the Clarissas and the Julies,
whose souls like flowing cups o'erlap the brim under some spiritual
pressure. Modeste was glorious in the savage energy with which she
repressed her exuberant youthful happiness and remained demurely
quiet. Let us say frankly that the memory of her sister was more
potent upon her than any social conventions; her will was iron in the
resolve to bring no grief upon her father and her mother. But what
tumultuous heavings were within her breast! no wonder that a mother
guessed them.
On the following day Modeste and Madame Dumay took Madame Mignon about
Modeste Mignon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: business. Eighteen years of what is called 'tuition' had relieved
him of the dangerous knowledge. His artist lodgers would
sometimes reason with him; they would point out to him how
impossible it was to paint by gaslight, or to sculpture
life-sized nymphs without a model.
'I know that,' he would reply. 'No one in Norfolk Street knows it
better; and if I were rich I should certainly employ the best
models in London; but, being poor, I have taught myself to do
without them. An occasional model would only disturb my ideal
conception of the figure, and be a positive impediment in my
career. As for painting by an artificial light,' he would
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: Hakkabut pleaded for some consideration.
"A bargain is a bargain," said Servadac. "You must complete your contract."
And, moaning and groaning, the miserable man was driven to make
up the full weight as registered by his own steelyard.
He had to repeat the process with the sugar and coffee:
for every kilogramme he had to weigh seven. Ben Zoof and
the Russians jeered him most unmercifully.
"I say, old Mordecai, wouldn't you rather give your goods away,
than sell them at this rate? I would."
"I say, old Pilate, a monopoly isn't always a good thing, is it?"
"I say, old Sepharvaim, what a flourishing trade you're driving!"
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