| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lin McLean by Owen Wister: scandalized, for I'd do it right over again to-morrow."
"You've got me all wrong," said I. "I'm not English; I'm not New York. I
am good American, and not bounded by my own farm either. No sectional
line, or Mason and Dixon, or Missouri River tattoos me. But you, when you
say United States, you mean United Kentucky!"
"Did you ever!" said she, staring at what was Greek to her--as it is to
most Americans. "And so if you had a sister back East, and she and you
were all there was of you any more, and she hadn't seen you since--not
since you first took to staying out nights, and she started to visit you,
you'd not tell her 'Fie for shame'?"
"I'd travel my money's length to meet her!" said I.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry: and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne!
In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and
reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free--
if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which
we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble
struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged
ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest
shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!
An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable
an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: except salt. Never shall forget it. And if the woman and the kid
cross the divide to-night they might as well be prepared for pot-
luck. A long shot, Bill, between ourselves, but nothing lost if
it misses."
A cup of water served the purpose, and the child was laid away in
a secure corner of the barricade. The men built the fire, and the
evening meal was cooked.
The sun hurried round to the north, sinking closer to the horizon.
The heavens in that quarter grew red and bloody. The shadows
lengthened, the light dimmed, and in the sombre recesses of the
forest life slowly died away. Even the wild fowl in the river
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