Five best essays based on first line

1) Going Out for a Walk

It is a fact that not once in all my life have I gone out for a walk.

2) A Piece of Chalk

I remember one splendid morning, all blue and silver, in the summer holidays, when I reluctantly tore myself away from the task of doing nothing in particular, and put on a hat of some sort and picked up a walking-stick, and put six very bright-coloured chalks in my pocket.

3) The Execution of Tropmann

IN JANUARY OF THE CURRENT YEAR (1870), while dining in Paris at the house of an old friend of mine, I received from M. Du Camp, the well-known writer and expert on the statistics of Paris, quite an unexpected to be present at the execution of Tropmann---and not only at his execution: it was proposed that I should be admitted to the prison itself together with a small number of other privileged persons.

4) Hashish in Marseilles

PRELIMINARY REMARK: One of the first signs that hashish is beginning to take effect "is a dull feeling of foreboding; something strange, ineluctable is approaching...images and chains of images, long-submerged memories appear, whole scenes and situations are experienced; at first they arouse interest, now and then enjoyment, and finally, when there is no turning away from them, weariness and torment.

5) Leaving the Movie Theater

THERE IS SOMETHING TO CONFESS: your speaker likes to leave a movie theater.