| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: patrons of the chase and protectors of the hound.[1] As a guerdon they
bestowed it upon Cheiron,[2] by reason of his uprightness, and he took
it and was glad, and turned the gift to good account. At his feet sat
many a disciple, to whom he taught the mystery of hunting and of
chivalry[3]--to wit, Cephalus, Asclepius, Melanion, Nestor,
Amphiaraus, Peleus, Telamon, Meleager, Theseus and Hippolytus,
Palamedes, Odysseus, Menestheus, Diomed, Castor and Polydeuces,
Machaon and Podaleirius, Antilochus, Aeneas and Achilles: of whom each
in his turn was honoured by the gods. And let none marvel that of
these the greater part, albeit well-pleasing to the gods, nevertheless
were subject to death--which is the way of nature,[4] but their fame
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: half-past nine o'clock walking arm-in-arm with Monsieur Dorlange the
thing would have seemed to them, to say the least, singular."
Pretending to discover what I had known for the last hour, I
exclaimed:--
"Is it possible that after sixteen years of married life you do me the
honor to be jealous. Now I see why, in spite of your respect for
proprieties, you spoke to Monsieur Dorlange in my presence of that
Italian woman whom people think his mistress; that was a nice little
perfidy by which you meant to ruin him in my estimation."
Thus exposed to the light, my poor husband talked at random for a
time, and finally had no resource but to ring for Lucas and lecture
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: francs a month pocket-money, a sum barely sufficient to buy the pens,
ink, paper, knives, and rules which we were forced to supply
ourselves. Unable to buy stilts or skipping-ropes, or any of the
things that were used in the playground, I was driven out of the
games; to gain admission on suffrage I should have had to toady the
rich and flatter the strong of my division. My heart rose against
either of these meannesses, which, however, most children readily
employ. I lived under a tree, lost in dejected thought, or reading the
books distributed to us monthly by the librarian. How many griefs were
in the shadow of that solitude; what genuine anguish filled my
neglected life! Imagine what my sore heart felt when, at the first
The Lily of the Valley |
