| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Juana by Honore de Balzac: "What has happened?" she asked, instantly perceiving from the livid
paleness of her husband that the misfortune she had daily expected was
upon them.
"Oh, nothing; but I want to speak to you--to you, alone."
And he glanced at his sons.
"My dears, go to your room, and go to bed," said Juana; "say your
prayers without me."
The boys left the room in silence, with the incurious obedience of
well-trained children.
"My dear Juana," said Diard, in a coaxing voice, "I left you with very
little money, and I regret it now. Listen to me; since I relieved you
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: human creatures flocked to these great buildings, swarming about them
like ants on an ant-heap. Some were eager to rescue books from
oblivion or to copy manuscripts, others were helping the poor, but
nearly all were studying. Up above this countless multitude rose giant
statues that they had erected in their midst, and by the gleams of a
strange light from some luminary as powerful as the sun, I read the
inscriptions on the bases of the statues--Science, History,
Literature.
The light died out. Again I faced the young girl. Gradually she
slipped into the dreary sheath, into the ragged cere-cloths, and
became an aged woman again. Her familiar brought her a little dust,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: and the tapers which he sold to be set before that icon and
which were almost immediately brought back to him scarcely
burnt at all, and which he put away in the store-chest. He
began to pray to that same Nicholas the Wonder-Worker to save
him, promising him a thanksgiving service and some candles.
But he clearly and indubitably realized that the icon, its
frame, the candles, the priest, and the thanksgiving service,
though very important and necessary in church, could do nothing
for him here, and that there was and could be no connexion
between those candles and services and his present disastrous
plight. 'I must not despair,' he thought. 'I must follow the
Master and Man |
