| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: When the yearly accounts were made up the colonel always added
something to this little store by way of acknowledging the cashier's
services, until in 1824 the latter had a credit of fifty-eight
thousand francs. In was then that Charles Mignon, Comte de La Bastie,
a title he never used, crowned his cashier with the final happiness of
residing at the Chalet, where at the time when this story begins
Madame Mignon and her daughter were living in obscurity.
The deplorable state of Madame Mignon's health was caused in part by
the catastrophe to which the absence of her husband was due. Grief had
taken three years to break down the docile German woman; but it was a
grief that gnawed at her heart like a worm at the core of a sound
Modeste Mignon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: whence we came: let us be freed from these chains that confine
and press us down. Here are thieves and robbers and tribunals:
and they that are called tyrants, who deem that they have after a
fashion power over us, because of the miserable body and what
appertains to it. Let us show them that they have power over
none."
XVIII
And to this I reply:--
"Friends, wait for God. When He gives the signal, and
releases you from this service, then depart to Him. But for the
present, endure to dwell in the place wherein He hath assigned
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: The attendant went out.
"I have sent for one of the best men on our force, Madam," continued
the commissioner, turning back to the pathetic little figure in the
chair. "We will go into this matter a little more in detail and see
if it is possible for us to interfere with the work of the local,
authorities in G-"
The little old lady gave her eyes a last hasty dab with a dainty
handkerchief and raised her head again, fighting for self-control.
She was a quaint little figure, with soft grey hair drawn back
smoothly from a gentle-featured face in which each wrinkle seemed
the seal of some loving thought for others. Her bonnet and gown
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