| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: general, though what general is unknown, for the place where the face
should have been had been rubbed through by the finger, and a square
bit of paper had been pasted over it. Having taken a pinch of snuff,
Petrovitch held up the cloak, and inspected it against the light, and
again shook his head once more. After which he again lifted the
general-adorned lid with its bit of pasted paper, and having stuffed
his nose with snuff, closed and put away the snuff-box, and said
finally, "No, it is impossible to mend it; it's a wretched garment!"
Akakiy Akakievitch's heart sank at these words.
"Why is it impossible, Petrovitch?" he said, almost in the pleading
voice of a child; "all that ails it is, that it is worn on the
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: tell her the details of the game of billiards and the discussion at
the club. When Rosalie returned she found Monsieur and Madame de
Merret conversing amiably.
"Not long before this Monsieur de Merret had had new ceilings made to
all the reception-rooms on the ground floor. Plaster is very scarce at
Vendome; the price is enhanced by the cost of carriage; the gentleman
had therefore had a considerable quantity delivered to him, knowing
that he could always find purchasers for what might be left. It was
this circumstance which suggested the plan he carried out.
" 'Gorenflot is here, sir,' said Rosalie in a whisper.
" 'Tell him to come in,' said her master aloud.
La Grande Breteche |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from To-morrow by Joseph Conrad: its innumerable houses, with its quiet lives gathered
round its firesides. Many sailors feel and profess
a rational dislike for the sea, but his was a pro-
found and emotional animosity--as if the love of
the stabler element had been bred into him through
many generations.
"People did not know what they let their boys in
for when they let them go to sea," he expounded to
Bessie. "As soon make convicts of them at once."
He did not believe you ever got used to it. The
weariness of such a life got worse as you got older.
To-morrow |
