| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: take offence if his honor were in peril, he always took these rough
pleasantries in good part; they were the small coin of conversation
between him and Crevel.
"The daughters of Eve cost me dear, no doubt; but, by the powers!
'Short and sweet' is my motto."
" 'Long and happy' is more to my mind," returned Crevel.
Madame Marneffe now came in; she saw that her husband was at cards
with Crevel, and only the Baron in the room besides; a mere glance at
the municipal dignitary showed her the frame of mind he was in, and
her line of conduct was at once decided on.
"Marneffe, my dear boy," said she, leaning on her husband's shoulder,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: recollection of the same matters?
PHAEDRUS: That is most true.
SOCRATES: I cannot help feeling, Phaedrus, that writing is unfortunately
like painting; for the creations of the painter have the attitude of life,
and yet if you ask them a question they preserve a solemn silence. And the
same may be said of speeches. You would imagine that they had
intelligence, but if you want to know anything and put a question to one of
them, the speaker always gives one unvarying answer. And when they have
been once written down they are tumbled about anywhere among those who may
or may not understand them, and know not to whom they should reply, to whom
not: and, if they are maltreated or abused, they have no parent to protect
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: meriting eternal life. - Yours, etc.,
"C. M. HYDE" (1)
(1) From the Sydney PRESBYTERIAN, October 26, 1889.
To deal fitly with a letter so extraordinary, I must draw at the
outset on my private knowledge of the signatory and his sect. It
may offend others; scarcely you, who have been so busy to collect,
so bold to publish, gossip on your rivals. And this is perhaps the
moment when I may best explain to you the character of what you are
to read: I conceive you as a man quite beyond and below the
reticences of civility: with what measure you mete, with that shall
it be measured you again; with you, at last, I rejoice to feel the
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