| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: young, for I am gay, as you say,--gay at this pleasure-party, where
there is blood to drink, as that poor Danton used to say. There,
there, forget what I am saying; it is the woman of fifty who speaks.
Thank God! the girl of fifteen is still within me."
The young country-girl shuddered. She alone knew the fiery, impetuous
nature of her mistress. She alone was initiated into the mysteries of
a soul rich with enthusiasm, into the secret emotions of a being who,
up to this time, had seen life pass her like a shadow she could not
grasp, eager as she was to do so. After sowing broadcast with full
hands and harvesting nothing, this woman was still virgin in soul, but
irritated by a multitude of baffled desires. Weary of a struggle
The Chouans |
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: the negotiations he undertakes are to him nothing more than
electioneering schemes; places become the reward of services
rendered, not to the nation, but to its chief; and the influence
of the government, if not injurious to the country, is at least
no longer beneficial to the community for which it was created.
It is impossible to consider the ordinary course of affairs
in the United States without perceiving that the desire of being
re- elected is the chief aim of the President; that his whole
administration, and even his most indifferent measures, tend to
this object; and that, as the crisis approaches, his personal
interest takes the place of his interest in the public good. The
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Complete Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: The lantern of St. Botolph's ceased to burn
When from the portals of that church he came
To be a burning and a shining light
Here in the wilderness. And, as he lay
On his death-bed, he saw me in a vision
Ride on a snow-white horse into this town.
His vision was prophetic; thus I came,
A terror to the impenitent, and Death
On the pale horse of the Apocalypse
To all the accursed race of Heretics!
[Exeunt.
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