| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: although I confess they learn the rudiments much earlier; during
which time they can however be properly looked upon only as
probationers: As I have been informed by a principal gentleman in
the county of Cavan, who protested to me, that he never knew
above one or two instances under the age of six, even in a part
of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that
art.
I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve
years old, is no saleable commodity, and even when they come to
this age, they will not yield above three pounds, or three pounds
and half a crown at most, on the exchange; which cannot turn to
A Modest Proposal |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: was delighted to think he could make use of the
coupon and get rid of it. With great difficulty
Ivan Mironov managed at last, by pulling the
shafts himself, to drag his cart into the courtyard,
where he was obliged to unload the firewood un-
aided and pile it up in the shed. The yard-porter
was out. Ivan Mironov hesitated at first to ac-
cept the coupon, but Eugene Mihailovich insisted,
and as he looked a very important person the peas-
ant at last agreed.
He went by the backstairs to the servants'
The Forged Coupon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: I have got an income for myself of sixty thousand francs, instead of
the thirty thousand which the property yielded. Then, only think what
my life was. Six months of the year in the country, renewing leases,
listening to the grumbles of the farmers, who pay when it pleases
them, and getting as bored as a sportsman in wet weather. There was
produce to sell, and I always sold it at a loss. Then, in Paris, my
house represented a rental of ten thousand francs; I had to invest my
money at the notaries; I was kept waiting for the interest, and could
only get the money back by prosecuting; in addition I had to study the
law of mortgage. In short, there was business in Nivernais, in Seine-
et-Marne, in Paris--and what a burden, what a nuisance, what a vexing
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