| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: There is no christian-name in the world, said the curate, beginning with
Tris--but Tristram. Then 'tis Tristram-gistus, quoth Susannah.
--There is no gistus to it, noodle!--'tis my own name, replied the curate,
dipping his hand, as he spoke, into the bason--Tristram! said he, &c. &c.
&c. &c.--so Tristram was I called, and Tristram shall I be to the day of my
death.
My father followed Susannah, with his night-gown across his arm, with
nothing more than his breeches on, fastened through haste with but a single
button, and that button through haste thrust only half into the button-
hole.
--She has not forgot the name, cried my father, half opening the door?--No,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln: what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished
work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining
before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion
to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . .
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . .
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . .
and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . .
shall not perish from this earth.
#ENDMARK#
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: assigned for it; but the Scottish Knight was spared from
committing what would have been a sore blot in his shield of
arms. The apparition, on which his eyes had been fixed for some
time, had at first appeared to dog their path by concealing
itself behind rocks and shrubs, using those advantages of the
ground with great address, and surmounting its irregularities
with surprising agility. At length, just as the Saracen paused
in his song, the figure, which was that of a tall man clothed in
goat-skins, sprung into the midst of the path, and seized a rein
of the Saracen's bridle in either hand, confronting thus and
bearing back the noble horse, which, unable to endure the manner
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