| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: them over his fat body and protruding stomach, and fingering the
cords of his vestments was smilingly saying something to a
military man in the uniform of a general of the Imperial suite,
with its insignia and shoulder-knots which Father Sergius's
experienced eye at once recognized. This general had been the
commander of the regiment in which Sergius had served. He now
evidently occupied an important position, and Father Sergius at
once noticed that the Abbot was aware of this and that his red
face and bald head beamed with satisfaction and pleasure. This
vexed and disgusted Father Sergius, the more so when he heard
that the Abbot had only sent for him to satisfy the general's
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: stock which they knew to be bad upon the public. The well-known firm
of Minard began by sales of this kind. In the Rue Saint-Denis they
sell nothing but 'greased silk'; it is all that they can do. The most
honest merchants tell you in the most candid way that 'you must get
out of a bad bargain as best you can'--a motto for the most
unscrupulous rascality. Blondet has given you an account of the Lyons
affair, its causes and effects, and I proceed in my turn to illustrate
my theory with an anecdote:--There was once a woolen weaver, an
ambitious man, burdened with a large family of children by a wife too
much beloved. He put too much faith in the Republic, laid in a stock
of scarlet wool, and manufactured those red-knitted caps that you may
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: another, did not neglect to taunt him with contemptuous words in his
helpless condition.
When Christmas Day dawned the Daemon of Malice was guarding the
prisoner, and his tongue was sharper than that of any of the others.
"The children are waking up, Santa!" he cried. "They are waking up to
find their stockings empty! Ho, ho! How they will quarrel, and wail,
and stamp their feet in anger! Our caves will be full today, old
Santa! Our caves are sure to be full!"
But to this, as to other like taunts, Santa Claus answered nothing.
He was much grieved by his capture, it is true; but his courage did
not forsake him. And, finding that the prisoner would not reply to
A Kidnapped Santa Claus |
