The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: on your fears, but on your sense and affection. It would destroy every
comfort of my life to know that you were married to Lady Susan Vernon; it
would be the death of that honest pride with which I have hitherto
considered my son; I should blush to see him, to hear of him, to think of
him. I may perhaps do no good but that of relieving my own mind by this
letter, but I felt it my duty to tell you that your partiality for Lady
Susan is no secret to your friends, and to warn you against her. I should
be glad to hear your reasons for disbelieving Mr. Smith's intelligence; you
had no doubt of its authenticity a month ago. If you can give me your
assurance of having no design beyond enjoying the conversation of a clever
woman for a short period, and of yielding admiration only to her beauty and
 Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Profits of Religion by Upton Sinclair: sight-seers. Now, early every Sunday morning, before "Good
Society" has opened its eyes, you may see the devotees of the
Irish snake-charmer hurrying to their orisons, each with a little
black prayer-book in her hand. What is it they do inside? What
are they taught about life? This is the question to which we have
next to give attention.
Some years ago Mr. Thomas F. Ryan, traction and insurance magnate
of New York, favored me with his justification of his own career
and activities. He mentioned his charities, and, speaking as one
man of the world to another, he said: "The reason I put them into
the hands of Catholics is not religious, but because I find they
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll: vexed. `That's what the name is CALLED. The name really IS "THE
AGED AGED MAN."'
`Then I ought to have said "That's what the SONG is called"?'
Alice corrected herself.
`No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The SONG is
called "WAYS AND MEANS": but that's only what it's CALLED, you
know!'
`Well, what IS the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this
time completely bewildered.
`I was coming to that,' the Knight said. `The song really IS
"A-SITTING ON A GATE": and the tune's my own invention.'
 Through the Looking-Glass |