| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: Berthier. His friend is a beggar that plays the flute. He is friendly
with a person who lets furnished lodgings in the Rue du Mail and some
tailor or other. . . . We found out that he had led a most
disreputable life, and no amount of fortune would be enough for a
scamp that has run through his mother's property."
"Why, Mlle. de Marville would have been wretched!" said Mme. Berthier.
"How did he come to your house?" asked old Mme. Lebas.
"It was M. Pons. Out of revenge, he introduced this fine gentleman to
us, to make us ridiculous. . . . This Brunner (it is the same name as
Fontaine in French)--this Brunner, that was made out to be such a
grandee, has poor enough health, he is bald, and his teeth are bad.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Pupil by Henry James: arcades; but still, in spite of mackintoshes, unmistakeable men of
the world. Paula and Amy were in bed - it might have been thought
they were staying there to keep warm. Pemberton looked askance at
the boy at his side, to see to what extent he was conscious of
these dark omens. But Morgan, luckily for him, was now mainly
conscious of growing taller and stronger and indeed of being in his
fifteenth year. This fact was intensely interesting to him and the
basis of a private theory - which, however, he had imparted to his
tutor - that in a little while he should stand on his own feet. He
considered that the situation would change - that in short he
should be "finished," grown up, producible in the world of affairs
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: rather than awaiting his enemy's attack, and his intention to carry on
the war at the expense of Persia rather than that of Hellas; but it
was the perfection of policy, they felt, so to change the arena of
battle, with Asia as the prize of victory instead of Hellas. If we
pass on to the moment when he had received his army and set sail, I
can conceive no clearer exposition of his generalship than the bare
narration of his exploits.
The scene is Asia, and this his first achievement. Tissaphernes had
sworn an oath to Agesilaus on this wise: if Agesilaus would grant him
an armistice until the return of certain ambassadors whom he would
send to the king, he (Tissaphernes) would do his utmost to procure the
|
