| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: advantages of a fortune acquired in a profession; so she accompanied
her sister to the sumptuous villa, less out of affection for the
members of her family who were visiting there, than because fashion
has ordained that every woman who has any self-respect must leave
Paris in the summer. The green seclusion of Sceaux answered to
perfection the requirements of good style and of the duties of an
official position.
As it is extremely doubtful that the fame of the "Bal de Sceaux"
should ever have extended beyond the borders of the Department of the
Seine, it will be necessary to give some account of this weekly
festivity, which at that time was important enough to threaten to
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: mare-servant to open a room, where a good store of milk lay in
earthen and wooden vessels, after a very orderly and cleanly
manner. She gave me a large bowlful, of which I drank very
heartily, and found myself well refreshed.
About noon, I saw coming towards the house a kind of vehicle
drawn like a sledge by four YAHOOS. There was in it an old
steed, who seemed to be of quality; he alighted with his
hind-feet forward, having by accident got a hurt in his left
fore-foot. He came to dine with our horse, who received him with
great civility. They dined in the best room, and had oats boiled
in milk for the second course, which the old horse ate warm, but
 Gulliver's Travels |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: During the fair-time they were let for four francs a day; and brought
Socquard about two hundred and fifty francs, not to speak of the
profits on the consumption of food which the guests took in his cafe.
The front of the house on the square was adorned with painted signs;
on the spaces that separated the windows from the glass door billiard-
cues were represented, lovingly tied together with ribbons, and above
these bows were depicted smoking bowls of punch, the bowls being in
the form of Greek vases. The words "Cafe de la Paix" were over the
door, brilliantly painted in yellow on a green ground, at each end of
which rose pyramids of tricolored billiard-balls. The window-sashes,
painted green, had small panes of the commonest glass.
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