| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: white was added to them - the white of the ancient standard of
France - and thus was the tricolour born. Further, a permanent
committee of electors was appointed to watch over public order.
Thus empowered the people went to work with such good effect that
within thirty-six hours sixty thousand pikes had been forged. At
nine o'clock on Tuesday morning thirty thousand men were before the
Invalides. By eleven o'clock they had ravished it of its store of
arms amounting to some thirty thousand muskets, whilst others had
seized the Arsenal and possessed themse1ves of powder.
Thus they prepared to resist the attack that from seven points was
to be launched that evening upon the city. But Paris did not wait
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: laborers piled in heaps along the roadside so as to keep a record of
the quantity gathered by each group. Thus the work went on rapidly,
with picked workmen full of ardor. Grossetete promised Madame Graslin
to send her some trees and to ask her other friends to do the same;
for the nurseries of the chateau would evidently not suffice to supply
such an extensive plantation. Toward the close of the day, which was
to end in a grand dinner at the chateau, Farrabesche requested Madame
Graslin to grant him an audience for a few moments.
"Madame," he said, presenting himself with Catherine, "you were so
good as to offer me the farm at the chateau. By granting me so great a
favor I know you intended to put me in the way of making my fortune.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: up with a bustling demeanour, apparently much engrossed by some
business in hand.
'We have got the tower down!' he exclaimed. 'It came rather
quicker than we intended it should. The first idea was to take it
down stone by stone, you know. In doing this the crack widened
considerably, and it was not believed safe for the men to stand
upon the walls any longer. Then we decided to undermine it, and
three men set to work at the weakest corner this afternoon. They
had left off for the evening, intending to give the final blow to-
morrow morning, and had been home about half an hour, when down it
came. A very successful job--a very fine job indeed. But he was
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
