The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: the seat assigned to the ladies of Foreign Ministers is very near
the throne. This morning when I awoke the fog was thicker than I
ever knew it, even here. The air was one dense orange-colored mass.
What a pity the English cannot borrow our bright blue skies in which
to exhibit their royal pageants!
Mr. Bancroft's court dress had not been sent home, our servants'
liveries had not made their appearance, and our carriage only
arrived last night, and I had not passed judgment upon it. Fogs and
tradesmen! these are the torments of London. Very soon came the
tailor with embroidered dress, sword, and chapeau, but, alas! Mr.
Isidore, who was to have dressed my hair at half-past ten was not
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: and purged away all barbarians from the sea. These were the men who fought
by sea at the river Eurymedon, and who went on the expedition to Cyprus,
and who sailed to Egypt and divers other places; and they should be
gratefully remembered by us, because they compelled the king in fear for
himself to look to his own safety instead of plotting the destruction of
Hellas.
And so the war against the barbarians was fought out to the end by the
whole city on their own behalf, and on behalf of their countrymen. There
was peace, and our city was held in honour; and then, as prosperity makes
men jealous, there succeeded a jealousy of her, and jealousy begat envy,
and so she became engaged against her will in a war with the Hellenes. On
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: neurasthenic son-in-law, and her five grandchildren. She did
this by giving music lessons to tradesmen's daughters, giving
four and sometimes five lessons a day of an hour each, and
earning in this way some sixty rubles (6 pounds) a month. So
they lived for the present, in expectation of another
appointment. She had sent letters to all her relations and
acquaintances asking them to obtain a post for her son-in-law,
and among the rest she had written to Sergius, but that letter
had not reached him.
It was a Saturday, and Praskovya Mikhaylovna was herself mixing
dough for currant bread such as the serf-cook on her father's
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