| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: there he went to Sommervieux' atelier, to acquire that portion of the
art of painting which is called composition, but composition was shy
and distant to him. Then he tried to snatch from Decamps and Granet
the mystery of their interior effects. The two masters were not
robbed. Finally Fougeres ended his education with Duval-Lecamus.
During these studied and these different transformations Fougeres'
habits and ways of life were tranquil and moral to a degree that
furnished matter of jesting to the various ateliers where he
sojourned; but everywhere he disarmed his comrades by his modesty and
by the patience and gentleness of a lamblike nature. The masters,
however, had no sympathy for the good lad; masters prefer bright
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: lessons does he begin to see himself as an ordinary mortal.
"My beautiful Louise, do you mean in very truth to be my Beatrice, a
Beatrice who condescends to be loved?"
Louise raised the fine eyes, hitherto down-dropped.
"If you show yourself worthy--some day!" she said, with an angelic
smile which belied her words. "Are you not happy? To be the sole
possessor of a heart, to speak freely at all times, with the certainty
of being understood, is not this happiness?"
"Yes," he answered, with a lover's pout of vexation.
"Child!" she exclaimed, laughing at him. "Come, you have something to
tell me, have you not? You came in absorbed in thought, my Lucien."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he
gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due
to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any
departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a
living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope--fervently
do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.
Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by
the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil
shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash
shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said
three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The
Second Inaugural Address |
