| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may
occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate,
nor any document of reasonable length contain, express provisions
for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered
by national or State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say.
May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not
expressly say. MUST Congress protect slavery in the Territories?
The Constitution does not expressly say.
From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies,
and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority
will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government must cease.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: he might, at least, spend two months with us. Faith Levis couldn't
go--at which, I think, we were all secretly glad. Some three or
four others were in the same case, and the company was finally
arranged to consist of the Shelldrakes, Hollins, Mallory, Eunice,
Miss Ringtop, and myself. We did not give much thought, either to
the preparations in advance, or to our mode of life when settled
there. We were to live near to Nature: that was the main thing.
"`What shall we call the place?' asked Eunice.
"`Arcadia!' said Abel Mallory, rolling up his large green eyes.
"`Then,' said Hollins, `let us constitute ourselves the Arcadian
Club!'"
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: has his moment of beneficence; he may call it his error, he may never
do it again, but he sacrifices to Goodness, as the most surly man
sacrifices to the Graces once or twice in his life. If Moreau's faults
can ever be excused, it might be on the score of his persistent
kindness in succoring a woman of whose favors he had once been proud,
and in whose house he was hidden when in peril of his life.
This woman, celebrated under the Directory for her liaison with one of
the five kings of that reign, married, through that all-powerful
protection, a purveyor who was making his millions out of the
government, and whom Napoleon ruined in 1802. This man, named Husson,
became insane through his sudden fall from opulence to poverty; he
|
