| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: may yourself take the commission from the drawer."
D'Artagnan still hesitated, and hung down his head. "Come,
monsieur," said the king, "one would believe, to look at
you, that you did not know that at the court of the most
Christian king, the captain-general of the musketeers takes
precedence of the marechals of France."
"Sire, I know he does.
"Then, am I to think you do put no faith in my word?"
"Oh! sire, never -- never dream of such a thing."
"I have wished to prove to you, that you, so good a servant,
had lost a good master; am I anything like the master that
Ten Years Later |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: the sailors on the forecastle. He thinks he breathes it first; but
not so. In much the same way do the commonalty lead their leaders in
many other things, at the same time that the leaders little suspect
it. But wherefore it was that after having repeatedly smelt the sea
as a merchant sailor, I should now take it into my head to go on a
whaling voyage; this the invisible police officer of the Fates, who
has the constant surveillance of me, and secretly dogs me, and
influences me in some unaccountable way--he can better answer than
any one else. And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage,
formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a
long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo
Moby Dick |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: notary!" to signify a heavy discount.
The old merchant was to be seen standing on the threshold of his shop,
as if by a miracle, the instant the servant withdrew. Monsieur
Guillaume looked at the Rue Saint-Denis, at the neighboring shops, and
at the weather, like a man disembarking at Havre, and seeing France
once more after a long voyage. Having convinced himself that nothing
had changed while he was asleep, he presently perceived the stranger
on guard, and he, on his part, gazed at the patriarchal draper as
Humboldt may have scrutinized the first electric eel he saw in
America. Monsieur Guillaume wore loose black velvet breeches, pepper-
and-salt stockings, and square toed shoes with silver buckles. His
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