| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: effect of the pictures. Fourteen statues stood on pedestals set in the
corners of the room, or among the pictures, or on brackets inlaid by
Boule; sideboards of carved ebony, royally rich, surrounded the walls
to elbow height, all the shelves filled with curiosities; in the
middle of the room stood a row of carved credence-tables, covered with
rare miracles of handicraft--with ivories and bronzes, wood-carvings
and enamels, jewelry and porcelain.
As soon as Elie Magus entered the sanctuary, he went straight to the
four masterpieces; he saw at a glance that these were the gems of
Pons' collection, and masters lacking in his own. For Elie Magus these
were the naturalist's /desiderata/ for which men undertake long
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: massacres."
Phellion. "He asserts very flippantly things that he only guesses at."
Fleury. "Say at once that he lies; in his mouth truth itself turns to
corrosion."
Phellion. "Your language is unparliamentary and lacks the courtesy and
consideration which are due to a colleague."
Vimeux. "It seems to me that if what he says is false, the proper name
for it is calumny, defamation of character; and such a slanderer
deserves the thrashing."
Fleury [getting hot]. "If the government offices are public places,
the matter ought to be taken into the police-courts."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: caution.
As the boat floated on, every sight and sound appeared strange.
The music from the fort came sudden and startling through the
vaporous eddies. A tall white schooner rose instantaneously
near them, like a light-house. They could see the steam of the
factory floating low, seeking some outlet between cloud and
water. As they drifted past a wharf, the great black piles of
coal hung high and gloomy; then a stray sunbeam brought out
their peacock colors; then came the fog again, driving
hurriedly by, as if impatient to go somewhere and enraged at
the obstacle. It seemed to have a vast inorganic life of its
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