| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: was leading him a life. His mother, horrid woman, had told some
one that she would rather he should be swallowed by a tiger than
marry a girl not absolutely one of themselves. He had given his
young friend unmistakable signs, but was lying low, gaining time:
it was in his father's power to be, both in personal and in
pecuniary ways, excessively nasty to him. His father wouldn't last
for ever--quite the contrary; and he knew how thoroughly, in spite
of her youth, her beauty and the swarm of her admirers, some of
them positively threatening in their passion, he could trust her to
hold out. There were richer, cleverer men, there were greater
personages too, but she liked her "little viscount" just as he was,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: "Malvina, puzzled to know how to comfort her mother, represented to
her that she was still young and pretty, that rose-color still became
her, that she could continue to go to the Opera and the Bouffons,
where Mme. de Nucingen had a box. And so with visions of gaieties,
dances, music, pretty dresses, and social success, the Baroness was
lulled to sleep and pleasant dreams in the blue, silk-curtained bed in
the charming room next to the chamber in which Jean Baptiste, Baron
d'Aldrigger, had breathed his last but two nights ago.
"Here in a few words is the Baron's history. During his lifetime that
worthy Alsacien accumulated about three millions of francs. In 1800,
at the age of thirty-six, in the apogee of a fortune made during the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Aeneid by Virgil: Weigh in your mind the various chance of war;
Pity your parent's age, and ease his care."
Such balmy words he pour'd, but all in vain:
The proffer'd med'cine but provok'd the pain.
The wrathful youth, disdaining the relief,
With intermitting sobs thus vents his grief:
"The care, O best of fathers, which you take
For my concerns, at my desire forsake.
Permit me not to languish out my days,
But make the best exchange of life for praise.
This arm, this lance, can well dispute the prize;
Aeneid |
