| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: Beneath green arches, bright with birds and flowers, beside singing
waves, went Eva into a lofty hall. The roof of pure white lilies
rested on pillars of green clustering vines, while many-colored
blossoms threw their bright shadows on the walls, as they danced below
in the deep green moss, and their low, sweet voices sounded softly
through the sunlit palace, while the rustling leaves kept time.
Beside the throne stood Eva, and watched the lovely forms around her,
as they stood, each little band in its own color, with glistening
wings, and flower wands.
Suddenly the music grew louder and sweeter, and the Fairies knelt,
and bowed their heads, as on through the crowd of loving subjects
Flower Fables |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: when she compared the life she led at the doctor's with that she would
have led at her uncle Brazier's, that she yielded no doubt to the
exactions of her master as if she had been an Eastern slave. With due
deference to the makers of idylls and to philanthropists, the
inhabitants of the provinces have very little idea of certain virtues;
and their scruples are of a kind that is roused by self-interest, and
not by any sentiment of the right or the becoming. Raised from infancy
with no prospect before them but poverty and ceaseless labor, they are
led to consider anything that saves them from the hell of hunger and
eternal toil as permissible, particularly if it is not contrary to any
law. Exceptions to this rule are rare. Virtue, socially speaking, is
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: solitary voice--Jack Halliday's:
"THAT'S got the hall-mark on it!"
Then the house let go, strangers and all. Even Mr. Burgess's
gravity broke down presently, then the audience considered itself
officially absolved from all restraint, and it made the most of its
privilege. It was a good long laugh, and a tempestuously
wholehearted one, but it ceased at last--long enough for Mr. Burgess
to try to resume, and for the people to get their eyes partially
wiped; then it broke out again, and afterward yet again; then at
last Burgess was able to get out these serious words:
"It is useless to try to disguise the fact--we find ourselves in the
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
