| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: to the great festivals of civilization as an honored guest--"
"You need wine for that," interposed the madman.
"--as an honored guest. He signs the insurance policy; he takes our
bits of paper,--scraps, rags, miserable rags!--which, nevertheless,
have more power in the world than his unaided genius. Then, if he
wants money, every one will lend it to him on those rags. At the
Bourse, among bankers, wherever he goes, even at the usurers, he will
find money because he can give security. Well, Monsieur, is not that a
great gulf to bridge over in our social system? But that is only one
aspect of our work. We insure debtors by another scheme of policies
and premiums. We offer annuities at rates graduated according to ages,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: Men denounce the negro for his prominence in this discussion;
but it is no fault of his that in peace as in war, that in
conquering Rebel armies as in reconstructing the rebellious States,
the right of the negro is the true solution of our national
troubles. The stern logic of events, which goes directly to the
point, disdaining all concern for the color or features of men,
has determined the interests of the country as identical with
and inseparable from those of the negro.
The policy that emancipated and armed the negro--now seen to
have been wise and proper by the dullest--was not certainly more
sternly demanded than is now the policy of enfranchisement.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: house. It was this: "Pretty thin -- as long a dream as
that, without any mistakes in it!"
What a hero Tom was become, now! He did not
go skipping and prancing, but moved with a dignified
swagger as became a pirate who felt that the public
eye was on him. And indeed it was; he tried not to
seem to see the looks or hear the remarks as he passed
along, but they were food and drink to him. Smaller
boys than himself flocked at his heels, as proud to be
seen with him, and tolerated by him, as if he had been
the drummer at the head of a procession or the elephant
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
