| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: delicacy. How admirably certain natures of a finer clay know the limit
line where jest must end, and all that host of things French covered
by the slang word /blague/, a word which will shortly be cast out of
the language (let us hope), and yet it is the only one which conveys
an idea of the spirit of Bohemia.
"So we often used to joke about Claudine and the Count--'/Toujours
Claudine?/' sung to the air of /Toujours Gessle/.--'What are you
making of Claudine?'--'How is Claudine?'
" 'I wish you all such a mistress, for all the harm I wish you,' La
Palferine began one day. 'No greyhound, no basset-dog, no poodle can
match her in gentleness, submissiveness, and complete tenderness.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: the effects of the general beneficence, and where the neighbourhood
(however poor) receive all the good they can expect, and are sure
to have no injury or oppression.
The canal before the house lies parallel with the road, and
receives into it the whole river Willy, or at least is able to do
so; it may, indeed, be said that the river is made into a canal.
When we come into the courtyards before the house there are several
pieces of antiquity to entertain the curious, as particularly a
noble column of porphyry, with a marble statue of Venus on the top
of it. In Italy, and especially at Rome and Naples, we see a great
variety of fine columns, and some of them of excellent workmanship
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: wisely and forced all to obey the laws.
When the beasts had taken their places in the clearing and the
rising sun was shooting its first bright rays over the treetops, King
Gugu rose on his throne. The Leopard's giant form, towering above all
the others, caused a sudden hush to fall on the assemblage.
"Brothers," he said in his deep voice, "a stranger has come among
us, a beast of curious form who is a great magician and is able to
change the shapes of men or beasts at his will. This stranger has
come to us, with another of his kind, from out of the sky, to warn us
of a danger which threatens us all, and to offer us a way to escape
from that danger. He says he is our friend, and he has proved to me
The Magic of Oz |
