| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: reports got about. But such confidence was felt in the firm after the
two previous suspensions, that every one stuck to Nucingen's paper.
'Palma must lend us a hand,' said Werbrust.
"Now Palma was the Keller's oracle, and the Kellers were brimful of
Nucingen's paper. A hint from Palma would be enough. Werbrust arranged
with Palma, and he rang the alarm bell. There was a panic next day on
the Bourse. The Kellers, acting on Palma's advice, let go Nucingen's
paper at ten per cent of loss; they set the example on 'Change, for
they were supposed to know very well what they were about. Taillefer
followed up with three hundred thousand francs at a discount of twenty
per cent, and Martin Falleix with two hundred thousand at fifteen.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: Proceeding upon these principles we appear to arrive at the conclusion that
nineteen-twentieths of all the writings which have ever been ascribed to
Plato, are undoubtedly genuine. There is another portion of them,
including the Epistles, the Epinomis, the dialogues rejected by the
ancients themselves, namely, the Axiochus, De justo, De virtute, Demodocus,
Sisyphus, Eryxias, which on grounds, both of internal and external
evidence, we are able with equal certainty to reject. But there still
remains a small portion of which we are unable to affirm either that they
are genuine or spurious. They may have been written in youth, or possibly
like the works of some painters, may be partly or wholly the compositions
of pupils; or they may have been the writings of some contemporary
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: "You've outlived your usefulness! You're a coward! You're a traitor!
You're a--a--a--"
"I'm a dragon and a gentleman!" answered the monster, proudly, as the
king paused for lack of a word; "and I believe I know what's proper
for dragons to do and what isn't. I've learned wisdom from my father,
who got into trouble with Saint George, and if I fought with this
person who calls himself Prince Marvel, I'd deserve to be a victim of
your Fool-Killer. Oh, I know my business, King Terribus; and if you
knew yours, you'd get rid of this pretended prince as soon as possible!"
With this speech he winked at Prince Marvel, turned soberly around and
crawled from the room. One of the keepers got too near and the
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
