| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: company were at hand. Thus - I am almost ashamed to confess it -
but indeed I gave myself no little trouble in my endeavours (if I
did keep up with them) to appear perfectly unconscious or
regardless of their presence, as if I were wholly absorbed in my
own reflections, or the contemplation of surrounding objects; or,
if I lingered behind, it was some bird or insect, some tree or
flower, that attracted my attention, and having duly examined that,
I would pursue my walk alone, at a leisurely pace, until my pupils
had bidden adieu to their companions and turned off into the quiet
private road.
One such occasion I particularly well remember; it was a lovely
Agnes Grey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: and butter than the wages of a man. It was
one of my mistakes that I did not find that out
sooner. Try to break a little more land every
year; sod corn is good for fodder. Keep turning
the land, and always put up more hay than you
need. Don't grudge your mother a little time
for plowing her garden and setting out fruit
trees, even if it comes in a busy season. She has
been a good mother to you, and she has always
When they went back to the kitchen the boys
O Pioneers! |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: vanity of an artist, to keep up his self-respect!
But the man after my own heart is M. de Vauversin. It is nearly
two years since I saw him first, and indeed I hope I may see him
often again. Here is his first programme, as I found it on the
breakfast-table, and have kept it ever since as a relic of bright
days:
'MESDAMES ET MESSIEURS,
'MADEMOISELLE FERRARIO ET M. DE VAUVERSIN AURONT L'HONNEUR DE
CHANTER CE SOIR LES MORCEAUX SUIVANTS.
'MADERMOISELLE FERRARIO CHANTERA - MIGNON - OISEAUX LEGERS - FRANCE
- DES FRANCAIS DORMENT LA - LE CHATEAU BLEU - OU VOULEZ-VOUS ALLER?
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