| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: knack of enlarging a hole in a man's purse. They cannot give the price
of anything upon inquiry; and as the paroxysm of longing cannot abide
delay, orders are given by the feeble light of an approximate estimate
of cost. The same people never send in the bills at once, but ply the
purchaser with furniture till his head spins. Everything is so pretty,
so charming; and every one is satisfied.
A few months later the obliging furniture dealers are metamorphosed,
and reappear in the shape of alarming totals on invoices that fill the
soul with their horrid clamor; they are in urgent want of the money;
they are, as you may say on the brink of bankruptcy, their tears flow,
it is heartrending to hear them! And then----the gulf yawns, and gives
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: and sisters and intimate friends, and which would never
be heard of beyond themselves. Julia _did_ seem inclined
to admit that Maria's situation might require particular
caution and delicacy--but that could not extend to _her_--
she was at liberty; and Maria evidently considered her
engagement as only raising her so much more above restraint,
and leaving her less occasion than Julia to consult
either father or mother. Edmund had little to hope,
but he was still urging the subject when Henry Crawford
entered the room, fresh from the Parsonage, calling out,
"No want of hands in our theatre, Miss Bertram.
Mansfield Park |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: so that a number of weak sparks proceed
from it; and the performer sustains no
hurt, provided he inspire the air not
through the mouth, but the nostrils. By
this art the Rabbi Bar-Cocheba, in the
reign of the Emperor Hadrian, made the
credulous Jews believe that he was the
hoped-for Messiah; and two centuries
after, the Emperor Constantius was
thrown into great terror when Valentinian
informed him that he had seen one
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
