| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: Ministerial."
"What! When in 1793 my father put down one hundred thousand--"
"My dear sir, recrimination is useless. Listen to a simple statement
in political arithmetic: The collectorship at Sancerre is vacant; a
certain paymaster-general of the forces has a claim on it, but he has
no chance of getting it; you have the chance--and no claim. You will
get the place. You will hold it for three months, you will then
resign, and Monsieur Gravier will give twenty thousand francs for it.
In addition, the Order of the Legion of Honor will be conferred on
you."
"Well, that is something," said the wine-grower, tempted by the money
The Muse of the Department |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy: shoulders. His red hair, which he wore after the fashion of the
Polish Jews, with the corkscrew curls each side of his face, was
plentifully sprinkled with grey--a general coating of grime, about his
cheeks and his chin, gave him a peculiarly dirty and loathsome
appearance. He had the habitual stoop, those of his race affected in
mock humility in past centuries, before the dawn of equality and
freedom in matters of faith, and he walked behind Desgas with the
peculiar shuffling gait which has remained the characteristic of the
Jew trader in continental Europe to this day.
Chauvelin, who had all the Frenchman's prejudice against the
despised race, motioned to the fellow to keep at a respectful
The Scarlet Pimpernel |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: captain of the ship, as we now called him, with me, and went
myself, a little after, in their boat.
I found the poor men on board almost in a tumult to get the
victuals out of the boiler before it was ready; but my mate
observed his orders, and kept a good guard at the cook-room door,
and the man he placed there, after using all possible persuasion to
have patience, kept them off by force; however, he caused some
biscuit-cakes to be dipped in the pot, and softened with the liquor
of the meat, which they called brewis, and gave them every one some
to stay their stomachs, and told them it was for their own safety
that he was obliged to give them but little at a time. But it was
Robinson Crusoe |
