| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: had already said a word to me. It appears that the /laureat/ of Rome
did not leave Italy without bringing away with him an agreeable
souvenir in the form of a bourgeoise Galatea, half housekeeper, half
model; about whom certain indiscreet rumors are current. But let me
hasten to say that there was absolutely nothing in her appearance or
manner to lead me to credit them. In fact, there was something cold
and proud and almost savage about her, which is, they tell me, a strong
characteristic of the Transteverine peasant-women. When she announced
our names Monsieur Dorlange was standing in a rather picturesque
working costume with his back to us, and I noticed that he hastily
drew an ample curtain before the statue on which he was engaged.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: The suns of Hellas have all shone,
The first has fallen to the last: --
Since Persia fell at Marathon,
Long centuries have come and gone.
John Evereldown
"Where are you going to-night, to-night, --
Where are you going, John Evereldown?
There's never the sign of a star in sight,
Nor a lamp that's nearer than Tilbury Town.
Why do you stare as a dead man might?
Where are you pointing away from the light?
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: these foreign ladies may have been overlooked by Her Majesty and
the princesses, but, if so, it was on the old belief that all
outside of China were barbarians.
"All the ladies who attended these audiences, however, were not
of this character. There were those who realized the importance
of those occasions in the opening up of China, and were
scrupulous in their efforts to conform to the most exacting
customs of the court. And who can doubt that the warm friendship
which the Empress Dowager conceived for Mrs. Conger, the wife of
our American minister, who did more than any other person ever
did, or ever can do, towards the opening up of the Chinese court
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