| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith: draw as many gazers as my Lady Mayoress at a City Ball.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I vow, since inoculation began, there is no such
thing to be seen as a plain woman; so one must dress a little
particular, or one may escape in the crowd.
HASTINGS. But that can never be your case, madam, in any dress.
(Bowing.)
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Yet, what signifies my dressing when I have such a
piece of antiquity by my side as Mr. Hardcastle: all I can say will
never argue down a single button from his clothes. I have often wanted
him to throw off his great flaxen wig, and where he was bald, to
plaster it over, like my Lord Pately, with powder.
She Stoops to Conquer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: "Some irregularities are always to be found in every district, I
know," said M. Tonnelet, "but they very seldom occur among us. Perhaps
there are peasants who remove their neighbor's landmark without much
scruple; or they may cut a few osiers that belong to some one else, if
they happen to want some; but these are mere peccadilloes compared
with the wrongdoing that goes on among a town population. Moreover,
the people in this valley seem to me to be devoutly religious."
"Devout?" queried the cure with a smile; "there is no fear of
fanaticism here."
"But," objected Cambon, "if the people all went to mass every morning,
sir, and to confession every week, how would the fields be cultivated?
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: what they were saying, he grew very thoughtful and sad. At last he
arrived in Rome, where the Pope had just died, and there was great
doubt among the cardinals as to whom they should appoint as his
successor. They at length agreed that the person should be chosen as
pope who should be distinguished by some divine and miraculous token.
And just as that was decided on, the young count entered into the
church, and suddenly two snow-white doves flew on his shoulders and
remained sitting there. The ecclesiastics recognized therein the token
from above, and asked him on the spot if he would be pope. He was
undecided, and knew not if he were worthy of this, but the doves
counselled him to do it, and at length he said yes. Then was he
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
