| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: performed his overture with such skill, bringing out such rich and
original musical effects, that the Count was quite dazzled, and at
last believed in some magic like that commanded by Paganini and Liszt,
--a style of execution which changes every aspect of music as an art,
by giving it a poetic quality far above musical inventions.
"Well, Excellenza, and can you cure him?" asked Giardini, as Andrea
came out.
"I shall soon find out," replied the Count. "This man's intellect has
two windows; one is closed to the world, the other is open to the
heavens. The first is music, the second is poetry. Till now he has
insisted on sitting in front of the shuttered window; he must be got
Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.
I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws,
the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability I shall take care,
as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the
laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States.
Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part;
and I shall perform it so far as practicable, unless my
rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the
requisite means, or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary.
I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the
declared purpose of the Union that it WILL Constitutionally
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore by Charles Kingsley: book a tone as of Izaak Walton himself, which is very delightful;
tender, poetical, and religious, yet full of quiet quaintness and
humour; showing in every page how the love for Natural History is
in him only one expression of a love for all things beautiful, and
pure, and right. If any readers of these pages fancy that I over-
praise the book, let them buy it, and judge for themselves. They
will thus help the good man toward pursuing his studies with larger
and better appliances, and will be (as I expect) surprised to find
how much there is to be seen and done, even by a working-man,
within a day's walk of smoky Babylon itself; and how easily a man
might, if he would, wash his soul clean for a while from all the
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