| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: It had been a benefit to-night for the leading tenor, and he had
chosen "Roland a Ronceveaux," a favourite this season, for his
farewell. And, mon Dieu, mused the little M'sieu, but how his
voice had rung out bell-like, piercing above the chorus of the
first act! Encore after encore was given, and the bravos of the
troisiemes were enough to stir the most sluggish of pulses.
"Superbes Pyrenees
Qui dressez dans le ciel,
Vos cimes couronnees
D'un hiver eternelle,
Pour nous livrer passage
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: good canon, whose heritage was by the grace of God considerably
simplified. Thus he gained the Rue St. Pierre-Aux-Boeufs with all
speed, and soon slept like a new-born baby, no longer knowing the
meaning of the word "cousin-german." Now, on the morrow he rose
according to the habit of shepherds, with the sun, and came into his
uncle's room to inquire if he spat white, if he coughed, if he had
slept well; but the old servant told him that the canon, hearing the
bells of St Maurice, the first patron of Notre Dame, ring for matins,
he had gone out of reverence to the cathedral, where all the Chapter
were to breakfast with the Bishop of Paris; upon which Chiquon
replied: "Is his reverence the canon out of his senses thus to disport
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: to have come so soon!"
"Does that surprise you?" Paul Overt asked.
"The first day? No, from you - nothing that's nice." She was
interrupted by a lady who bade her good-night, and he seemed to
read that it cost her nothing to speak to him in that tone; it was
her old liberal lavish way, with a certain added amplitude that
time had brought; and if this manner began to operate on the spot,
at such a juncture in her history, perhaps in the other days too it
had meant just as little or as much - a mere mechanical charity,
with the difference now that she was satisfied, ready to give but
in want of nothing. Oh she was satisfied - and why shouldn't she
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