| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: dollar and a quarter a month for driving the cows. And so I had
found a paying job within thirty days after landing in America.
The cost of pasturage was a dollar a month for each cow. That was
less than four cents a day for cow feed to produce two gallons of
milk, or about two cents a gallon. The wages of the girls who
milked them and my wages for driving them amounted to three cents
a gallon. In other words, the cost of labor in getting the milk
from the cows more than doubled the cost of the milk. This was my
first lesson in political economy. I learned that labor costs are
the chief item in fixing the price of anything.
The less labor used in producing milk, the cheaper the milk
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: residence in Alencon.
CHAPTER II
SUSANNAH AND THE ELDERS
On a Wednesday morning, early, toward the middle of spring, in the
year 16,--such was his mode of reckoning,--at the moment when the
chevalier was putting on his old green-flowered damask dressing-gown,
he heard, despite the cotton in his ears, the light step of a young
girl who was running up the stairway. Presently three taps were
discreetly struck upon the door; then, without waiting for any
response, a handsome girl slipped like an eel into the room occupied
by the old bachelor.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: unsatisfactory reply, "A lady whom the 'ancient' Duchesse de Lansac
introduced to me."
Turning by chance towards the armchair occupied by the old lady, the
lawyer intercepted the glance of intelligence she sent to the
stranger; and although he had for some time been on bad terms with
her, he determined to speak to her. The "ancient" Duchess, seeing the
jaunty Baron prowling round her chair, smiled with sardonic irony, and
looked at Madame de Vaudremont with an expression that made Montcornet
laugh.
"If the old witch affects to be friendly," thought the Baron, "she is
certainly going to play me some spiteful trick.--Madame," he said,
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