| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: over and over, after lighting a pitch candle about a finger thick and
the color of gingerbread. This article of consumption, imported into
Brittany from the North, was only one more proof to the eyes in this
strange country of a utter ignorance of all commercial principles,
even the commonest. After seeing the green ribbon, staring at
Mademoiselle de Verneuil, scratching his ear, and drinking a beaker of
cider (having first offered a glass to the beautiful lady), Galope-
Chopine left her seated before the table and went to fetch the
required donkeys.
The violet gleam cast by the pitch candle was not powerful enough to
counteract the fitful moonlight, which touched the dark floor and
The Chouans |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: yellowish stucco, and so riven with great cracks that there seemed to
be danger lest the slightest puff of wind might blow it down. The
roof, covered with brown moss-grown tiles, had given way in several
places, and looked as though it might break down altogether under the
weight of the snow. The frames of the three windows on each story were
rotten with damp and warped by the sun; evidently the cold must find
its way inside. The house standing thus quite by itself looked like
some old tower that Time had forgotten to destroy. A faint light shone
from the attic windows pierced at irregular distances in the roof;
otherwise the whole building was in total darkness.
Meanwhile the old lady climbed not without difficulty up the rough,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Adieu by Honore de Balzac: colonel in a low voice,--
"Take out, adroitly, from my right hand pocket some lumps of sugar you
will feel there. Show them to her, and she will come to us. I will
renounce in your favor my sole means of giving her pleasure. With
sugar, which she passionately loves, you will accustom her to approach
you, and to know you again."
"When she was a woman," said Philippe, sadly, "she had no taste for
sweet things."
When the colonel showed her the lump of sugar, holding it between the
thumb and forefinger of his right hand, she again uttered her little
wild cry, and sprang toward him; then she stopped, struggling against
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