| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: low voice, "by her mother."
A modest tap at the door silenced the Count, who expected to see the
two ladies appear. A little page came in, evidently in a great hurry;
but, abashed by the presence of the two gentlemen, he beckoned to a
housekeeper, who followed him. Dressed in a blue cloth jacket with
short tails, and blue-and-white striped trousers, his hair cut short
all round, the boy's expression was that of a chorister, so strongly
was it stamped with the compulsory propriety that marks every member
of a bigoted household.
"Mademoiselle Gatienne," said he, "do you know where the books are for
the offices of the Virgin? The ladies of the Congregation of the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: loose women, and vagabond students, had fitted him to move in
a society of any dignity and courtliness. Ballades are very
admirable things; and a poet is doubtless a most interesting
visitor. But among the courtiers of Charles, there would be
considerable regard for the proprieties of etiquette; and
even a duke will sometimes have an eye to his teaspoons.
Moreover, as a poet, I can conceive he may have disappointed
expectation. It need surprise nobody if Villon's ballade on
the theme,
"I die of thirst beside the fountain's edge,"
was but a poor performance. He would make better verses on
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: life, thou deemest that thou art well advised, and hast reflected
to good effect: but it is not so, not so. The objects of thy
veneration are not gods but statues of devils, charged with all
their filthy power; nor is the life, which thou pronouncest sweet
and pleasant, and thinkest to be full of delight and gladness of
heart, such in kind: but the same is abominable, according to the
word of truth, and to be abhorred. For for a time it sweeteneth
and tickleth the gullet, but afterwards it maketh the risings
more bitter than gall (as said my teacher), and is sharper than
any two-edged sword.
"How shall I describe to thee the evils of this life? I will
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