| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: "The good and dear people always do die," groaned Jo, but she
stopped crying, for her friend's words cheered her up in spite of
her own doubts and fears.
"Poor girl, you're worn out. It isn't like you to be forlorn.
Stop a bit. I'll hearten you up in a jiffy."
Laurie went off two stairs at a time, and Jo laid her wearied
head down on Beth's little brown hood, which no one had thought of
moving from the table where she left it. It must have possessed
some magic, for the submissive spirit of its gentle owner seemed
to enter into Jo, and when Laurie came running down with a glass
of wine, she took it with a smile, and said bravely, "I drink--
 Little Women |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: exhibited in later years. In 1838 and 1840 all the Whig members
of the Illinois House of Representatives gave him their vote for
Speaker, but, the Democrats being in a majority, could not elect
him.
His campaign expenses were small enough to suit the most
exacting. It is recorded that at one time some of the leading
Whigs made up a purse of two hundred dollars to pay his personal
expenses. After the election he returned the sum of $199.25, with
the request that it be given back to the subscribers. "I did not
need the money," he explained. "I made the canvass on my own
horse; my entertainment, being at the houses of friends, cost me
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: if he were not in the service. The same remark applies to the
militia; the citizen who is in the militia devotes a certain
portion of valuable time to the maintenance of the public peace,
and he does in reality surrender to the State those earnings
which he is prevented from gaining. Many other instances might
be cited in addition to these. The governments of France and of
America both levy taxes of this kind, which weigh upon the
citizens; but who can estimate with accuracy their relative
amount in the two countries?
This, however, is not the last of the difficulties which
prevent us from comparing the expenditure of the Union with that
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