| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: non-existence of a vacuum, the fact that objects push one another round,
and that they change places, passing severally into their proper positions
as they are divided or combined.
Such as we have seen, is the nature and such are the causes of respiration,
--the subject in which this discussion originated. For the fire cuts the
food and following the breath surges up within, fire and breath rising
together and filling the veins by drawing up out of the belly and pouring
into them the cut portions of the food; and so the streams of food are kept
flowing through the whole body in all animals. And fresh cuttings from
kindred substances, whether the fruits of the earth or herb of the field,
which God planted to be our daily food, acquire all sorts of colours by
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: property to the hospital at Vendome excepting a few legacies. But
these were her instructions as relating to la Grande Breteche: She
ordered me to leave the place, for fifty years counting from the day
of her death, in the state in which it might be at the time of her
death, forbidding any one, whoever he might be, to enter the
apartments, prohibiting any repairs whatever, and even settling a
salary to pay watchmen if it were needful to secure the absolute
fulfilment of her intentions. At the expiration of that term, if the
will of the testatrix has been duly carried out, the house is to
become the property of my heirs, for, as you know, a notary cannot
take a bequest. Otherwise la Grande Breteche reverts to the heirs-at-
La Grande Breteche |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: an effort so praiseworthy; you will permit her then to benefit by
your instruction--n'est ce pas, monsieur?" And Mdlle. Reuter's
eyes were raised to mine with a look at once naive, benign, and
beseeching.
I replied, "Of course," very laconically, almost abruptly.
"Another word," she said, with softness: "Mdlle. Henri has not
received a regular education; perhaps her natural talents are not
of the highest order: but I can assure you of the excellence of
her intentions, and even of the amiability of her disposition.
Monsieur will then, I am sure, have the goodness to be
considerate with her at first, and not expose her backwardness,
The Professor |
