| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: in the den at the office? That is Finot's uncle. The uncle is not only
one of the right sort, he has the luck to be taken for a fool; and he
takes all that kind of business upon his shoulders. An ambitious man
in Paris is well off indeed if he has a willing scapegoat at hand. In
public life, as in journalism, there are hosts of emergencies in which
the chiefs cannot afford to appear. If Finot should enter on a
political career, his uncle would be his secretary, and receive all
the contributions levied in his department on big affairs. Anybody
would take Giroudeau for a fool at first sight, but he has just enough
shrewdness to be an inscrutable old file. He is on picket duty; he
sees that we are not pestered with hubbub, beginners wanting a job, or
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: "It is certainly very beautiful," he thought, "but it is
distinctly pagan;
that altar is built to some heathen god. It does not fit into
the scheme of a Christian life. I doubt whether it is consistent
with
the tone of my house. I will sell it this winter. It will bring
three or four times what I paid for it. That was a good
purchase,
a very good bargain."
He dropped into the revolving chair before his big library table.
It was covered with pamphlets and reports of the various
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot: then a dizzy, sickening sensation of sight that was not like seeing;
I saw a Line that was no Line; Space that was not Space:
I was myself, and not myself. When I could find voice,
I shrieked aloud in agony, "Either this is madness or it is Hell."
"It is neither," calmly replied the voice of the Sphere,
"it is Knowledge; it is Three Dimensions: open your eye once again
and try to look steadily."
I looked, and, behold, a new world! There stood before me,
visibly incorporate, all that I had before inferred, conjectured,
dreamed, of perfect Circular beauty. What seemed the centre
of the Stranger's form lay open to my view: yet I could see no heart,
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions |
