| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Contrast by Royall Tyler: apparent.
Plays by American authors followed in rapid succes-
sion, the stigma against the theater gradually and com-
pletely faded away; and when the first citizen of the
United States, the immortal Washington, attended in
state as President to witness a first-night performance
of an American play, the revolution was complete. At
Boston a number of the most prominent, intelligent,
and influential citizens assembled in town meetings, and
passed resolutions instructing their representatives to
demand of the Legislature an immediate repeal of the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: foregone and profound horror of repairs and decoration, one of
the men who regard their position as Paris house-owners as a
business. In the vast chain of moral species, these people hold a
middle place between the miser and the usurer. Optimists in their
own interests, they are all faithful to the Austrian status quo.
If you speak of moving a cupboard or a door, of opening the most
indispensable air-hole, their eyes flash, their bile rises, they
rear like a frightened horse. When the wind blows down a few
chimney-pots they are quite ill, and deprive themselves of an
evening at the Gymnase or the Porte-Saint-Martin Theatre, "on
account of repairs." Hippolyte, who had seen the performance
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: Meantime this Malay has been our friend . . ."
He repeated several times thoughtfully, "Friend . . . Malay. Friend,
Malay," as though weighing the words against one another, then went on
more briskly--
"A good fellow--a gentleman in his way. We can't, so to speak, turn
our backs on his confidence and belief in us. Those Malays are
easily impressed--all nerves, you know--therefore . . ."
He turned to me sharply.
"You know him best," he said, in a practical tone. "Do you think he is
fanatical--I mean very strict in his faith?"
I stammered in profound amazement that "I did not think so."
Tales of Unrest |
