| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: interesting to watch in her government and her people the persistent and
conflicting currents of sympathy and antipathy boil up again, just as
they had boiled in 1776. It is equally interesting to watch our ancient
grudge at work, causing us to remember and hug all the ill will she bore
us, all the harm she did us, and to forget all the good. Roughly
comparing 1776 with 1861, it was once more the Tories, the aristocrats,
the Lord Norths, who hoped for our overthrow, while the people of
England, with certain liberal leaders in Parliament, stood our friends.
Just as Pitt and Burke had spoken for us in our Revolution, so Bright and
Cobden befriended us now. The parallel ceases when you come to the
Sovereign. Queen Victoria declined to support or recognize Slave Land.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: Paris, where our real interests lie. Well, Natalie, tell me, was it
very difficult to do what I asked of you?"
"My little mamma! every now and then I felt ashamed."
"Solonet advises me to put the proceeds of this house into an
annuity," said Madame Evangelista, "but I shall do otherwise; I won't
take a penny of my fortune from you."
"I saw you were all very angry," said Natalie. "How did the tempest
calm down?"
"By an offer of my diamonds," replied Madame Evangelista. "Solonet was
right. How ably he conducted the whole affair. Get out my jewel-case,
Natalie. I have never seriously considered what my diamonds are worth.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: your neighbor; and you will doubtless find that you are full of
all need and misery, and have reason enough to weep even drops
of blood, if you could.
X. But I know well that many are so foolish as not to want to ask
for such things, unless they first be conscious that they are
pure, and believe that God hears no one who is a sinner. All this
is the work of those false preachers, who teach men to begin, not
with faith and trust in God's favor, but with their own works.
Look you, wretched man! if you have broken a leg, or the peril
of death overtakes you, you call upon God, this Saint and that,
and do not wait until your leg is healed, or the danger is past:
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