| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: was the first principle of military law), and the equally important
dogma which turns respect for the person of a King into a matter of
religion. In the priest's indecision he was eager to see a favorable
solution of the doubts which seemed to torment him. To prevent too
prolonged reflection on the part of the reverend Jansenist, he added:
"I should blush to offer remuneration of any kind for the funeral
service which you have just performed for the repose of the King's
soul and the relief of my conscience. The only possible return for
something of inestimable value is an offering likewise beyond price.
Will you deign, monsieur, to take my gift of a holy relic? A day will
perhaps come when you will understand its value."
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: extreme edge of the arm of a chair. Her skirt subsided
decorously. Buck noticed that, with surprise, even in the midst
of his heated protest.
"T. A., you've probably forgotten, but those are the very
arguments used when the hobble was introduced. Preposterous,
people said--impossible! Women couldn't walk in 'em. Wouldn't,
couldn't sit down in 'em. Women couldn't run, play tennis, skate
in them. The car steps were too high for them. Well, what
happened? Women had to walk in them, and a new gait became the
fashion. Women took lessons in how to sit down in them. They
slashed them for tennis and skating. And street-car companies
Emma McChesney & Co. |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: the blast, the inmost core of my heart remained unmoved. What agitates
thee now? What shakes thy firm and steadfast mind? I feel it, 'tis the sound
of the murderous axe, gnawing at thy root. Yet I stand erect, but an inward
shudder runs through my frame. Yes, it prevails, this treacherous power; it
undermines the firm, the lofty stem, and ere the bark withers, thy verdant
crown falls crashing to the earth.
Yet wherefore now, thou who hast so often chased the weightiest cares
like bubbles from thy brow, wherefore canst thou not dissipate this dire
foreboding which incessantly haunts thee in a thousand different shapes?
Since when hast thou trembled at the approach of death, amid whose
varying forms, thou weft wont calmly to dwell, as with the other shapes of
Egmont |
