| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: the disenchantment which falls on us so slowly and yet so
quickly--for we try to postpone as long as possible our belief in
evil, and it seems to come too soon--that day was a whole age of
reflection, and it was also a day of religious thought and
resignation. She refused the alms of the man who had betrayed
her, renounced the world, and made a glory of her shame. She gave
herself up entirely to her motherly love, seeking in it all her
joys in exchange for the social pleasures to which she bid
farewell. She lived by work, saving up a treasure for her son.
And, in after years, a day, an hour repaid her amply for the long
and weary sacrifices of her indigence.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: the youth's fidelity. After a very brief and summary examination by
the grand provost, the unfortunate secretary was hanged. After that no
one dared for a long time to learn the arts of banking and exchange
from Maitre Cornelius.
In course of time, however, two young men of the town, Touraineans,--
men of honor, and eager to make their fortunes,--took service with the
silversmith. Robberies coincided with the admission of the two young
men into the house. The circumstances of these crimes, the manner in
which they were perpetrated, showed plainly that the robbers had
secret communication with its inmates. Become by this time more than
ever suspicious and vindictive, the old Fleming laid the matter before
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: And, in short, days went by, and Irvine came daily, and
talked and lounged and spat; but the firewood remained intact
as sleepers on the platform or growing trees upon the
mountainside. Irvine, as a woodcutter, we could tolerate;
but Irvine as a friend of the family, at so much a day, was
too bald an imposition, and at length, on the afternoon of
the fourth or fifth day of our connection, I explained to
him, as clearly as I could, the light in which I had grown to
regard his presence. I pointed out to him that I could not
continue to give him a salary for spitting on the floor; and
this expression, which came after a good many others, at last
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