| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: the Claudians of Rome, in which the transmission of moral and
intellectual qualities is more thoroughly illustrated than in
this Burgundian race which for two centuries held the sceptre of
Spain. The son Philip and the grandmother Isabella are both
needful in order to comprehend the strange mixture of good and
evil in Charles. But the descendants of Philip--two generations
of idiocy, and a third of utter impotence--are a sufficient
commentary upon the organization and character of their
progenitor.
Such was the man who for two generations had been considered the
bulwark of the Catholic Church; who, having been at the bottom of
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: elderly lover, that no rival could have guessed anything from his
behavior in the reading-room. For a couple of months Croizeau watched
the retired custom-house official; but before the third month was out
he had good reason to believe that his suspicions were groundless. He
exerted his ingenuity to scrape an acquaintance with Denisart, came up
with him in the street, and at length seized his opportunity to
remark, 'It is a fine day, sir!'
"Whereupon the retired official responded with, 'Austerlitz weather,
sir. I was there myself--I was wounded indeed, I won my Cross on that
glorious day.'
"And so from one thing to another the two drifted wrecks of the Empire
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: which has always distinguished the Russian soldier.
"The fall of each man acted as an increasing
stimulus. The faces of the soldiers brightened
more and more, as if challenging the storm let
loose on them."
In contrast with this picture of fine "morale"
is that of the young white-faced officer, looking
nervously about him as he walks backwards with
lowered sword.
In other places Tolstoy does full justice to the
courage and patriotism of all grades in the Rus-
The Forged Coupon |
