| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: lady we met in the cars--I think her name was Miss Featherstone;
perhaps you know her. She wanted to know why I didn't give
Randolph lessons--give him 'instruction,' she called it.
I guess he could give me more instruction than I could give him.
He's very smart."
"Yes," said Winterbourne; "he seems very smart."
"Mother's going to get a teacher for him as soon as we get to Italy.
Can you get good teachers in Italy?"
"Very good, I should think," said Winterbourne.
"Or else she's going to find some school. He ought to learn
some more. He's only nine. He's going to college."
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: independent than the French civil officers within the sphere
which is prescribed to them. Sometimes, even, they are allowed by
the popular authority to exceed those bounds; and as they are
protected by the opinion, and backed by the co-operation, of the
majority, they venture upon such manifestations of their power as
astonish a European. By this means habits are formed in the
heart of a free country which may some day prove fatal to its
liberties.
Power Exercised By The Majority In America Upon Opinion
In America, when the majority has once irrevocably decided a
question, all discussion ceases - Reason of this - Moral power
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Red Inn by Honore de Balzac: Prosper's purse and papers. The gaze of the assembled crowd turned
alternately from these convicting articles to the young man, who
seemed to be dying and whose half-extinguished eyes apparently saw
nothing. A confused murmur which was heard without proved the presence
of a crowd, drawn to the neighborhood of the inn by the news of the
crime, and also perhaps by a desire to see the murderer. The step of
the sentries placed beneath the windows of the public room and the
rattle of their accoutrements could be heard above the talk of the
populace; but the inn was closed and the courtyard was empty and
silent.
Incapable of sustaining the glance of the officer who was gathering
|