| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: Rastignac brought d'Arthez. The princess made none of those
compliments to the celebrated author with which vulgar persons
overwhelmed him; but she treated him with a kindness full of graceful
respect, which, with her, was the utmost extent of her concessions.
Her manner was doubtless the same with the King of France and the
royal princes. She seemed happy to see this great man, and glad that
she had sought him. Persons of taste, like the princess, are
especially distinguished for their manner of listening, for an
affability without superciliousness, which is to politeness what
practice is to virtue. When the celebrated man spoke, she took an
attentive attitude, a thousand times more flattering than the best-
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: 'That it must deal with some phase of native life.'
Miss Harris walked to a point behind us, and stood there with her
eyes fixed upon the picture. I glanced at her once; her gaze was
steady, but perfectly blank. Then she joined us again, and struck
into the stream of my volubility.
'I am delighted,' she said, pleasantly, to Armour. 'You have done
exactly what I wanted you to do. You have won the Viceroy's medal,
and all the reputation there is to win in this place. Come and dine
tonight, and we will rejoice together. But wasn't it--for you--a
little difficult?'
He looked at her as if she had offered him a cup, and then dashed it
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: about and, as the Doctor says, 'expose myself to malaria,' I
am in far better health; and I would do so more too - for I
do not mean to be silly - but the difficulties are great.
However, you see how much the dear Doctor knows of my diet
and habits! Malaria practically does not exist in these
islands; it is a negligeable quantity. What really bothers
us a little is the mosquito affair - the so-called
elephantiasis - ask Ross about it. A real romance of natural
history, QUOI!
Hi! stop! you say THE EBB TIDE is the 'working out of an
artistic problem of a kind.' Well, I should just bet it was!
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