| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: to the heart. I had been sorry enough before to go away.
"I guess you'll excuse me if I ain't down there to stand
around on the w'arf and see you go," she said, still trying to be
gruff. "Yes, I ought to go over and inquire for Mis' Edward
Caplin; it's her third shock, and if mother gets in on Sunday
she'll want to know just how the old lady is." With this last word
Mrs. Todd turned and left me as if with sudden thought of something
she had forgotten, so that I felt sure she was coming back, but
presently I heard her go out of the kitchen door and walk down the
path toward the gate. I could not part so; I ran after her to say
good-by, but she shook her head and waved her hand without looking
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: on the already much-worn topic of reconstruction.
Seldom has any legislative body been the subject of a solicitude
more intense, or of aspirations more sincere and ardent.
There are the best of reasons for this profound interest.
Questions of vast moment, left undecided by the last session of Congress,
must be manfully grappled with by this. No political skirmishing will avail.
The occasion demands statesmanship.
Whether the tremendous war so heroically fought and so victoriously ended
shall pass into history a miserable failure, barren of permanent results,--
a scandalous and shocking waste of blood and treasure,--a strife for empire,
as Earl Russell characterized it, of no value to liberty or civilization,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: "Wetzel stands straight as the oak over thar. He'd hev' to go sideways to git
his shoulders in that door, but he's as light of foot an' fast as a deer. An'
his eyes--why, lad, ye kin hardly look into 'em. If you ever see Wetzel you'll
know him to onct."
"I want to see him," Joe spoke quickly, his eyes lighting with an eager flash.
"He must be a great fighter."
"Is he? Lew Wetzel is the heftiest of 'em all, an' we hev some as kin fight
out here. I was down the river a few years ago and joined a party to go out
an' hunt up some redskins as had been reported. Wetzel was with us. We soon
struck Injun sign, and then come on to a lot of the pesky varmints. We was all
fer goin' home, because we had a small force. When we started to go we finds
The Spirit of the Border |
