| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Just Folks by Edgar A. Guest: Each little family grows up with fashions of its own;
It lives within a world itself and wants to be alone.
It has its special pleasures, its circle, too, of friends;
There are no get-together days; each one his journey wends,
Pursuing what he likes the best in his particular way,
Letting the others do the same upon Thanksgiving Day.
I like the olden way the best, when relatives were glad
To meet the way they used to do when I was but a lad;
The old home was a rendezvous for all our kith and kin,
And whether living far or near they all came trooping in
With shouts of "Hello, daddy!" as they fairly stormed the place
Just Folks |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: penny to the son or to himself. His own funds he was about to invest
for three years; he had therefore nothing further to do than to manage
his property in Saumur. He needed some nutriment for his malicious
activity, and he found it suddenly in his brother's failure. Feeling
nothing to squeeze between his own paws, he resolved to crush the
Parisians in behalf of Charles, and to play the part of a good brother
on the cheapest terms. The honor of the family counted for so little
in this scheme that his good intentions might be likened to the
interest a gambler takes in seeing a game well played in which he has
no stake. The Cruchots were a necessary part of his plan; but he would
not seek them,--he resolved to make them come to him, and to lead up
Eugenie Grandet |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: XXV
LADY SUSAN TO MRS. JOHNSON
Churchhill.
I call on you, dear Alicia, for congratulations: I am my own self, gay
and triumphant! When I wrote to you the other day I was, in truth, in high
irritation, and with ample cause. Nay, I know not whether I ought to be
quite tranquil now, for I have had more trouble in restoring peace than I
ever intended to submit to--a spirit, too, resulting from a fancied sense
of superior integrity, which is peculiarly insolent! I shall not easily
forgive him, I assure you. He was actually on the point of leaving
Churchhill! I had scarcely concluded my last, when Wilson brought me word
Lady Susan |
