| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: But the beautiful woman now clapped her hands; and immediately
there entered a train of two and twenty serving man, bringing
dishes of the richest food, all hot from the kitchen fire, and
sending up such a steam that it hung like a cloud below the
crystal dome of the saloon. An equal number of attendants
brought great flagons of wine, of various kinds, some of which
sparkled as it was poured out, and went bubbling down the
throat; while, of other sorts, the purple liquor was so clear
that you could see the wrought figures at the bottom of the
goblet. While the servants supplied the two and twenty guests
with food and drink, the hostess and her four maidens went from
Tanglewood Tales |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: The Roche-Vive, cut perpendicularly on this side looked like a wall of
granite in which there was no foothold; but above this inflexible wall
was a crown of trees, the roots of which hung down it, mostly pines
clinging to the rock with their forked feet like birds on a bough.
The opposite hill, hollowed by time, had a frowning front, sandy,
rocky, and yellow; here were shallow caverns, dips without depth; the
soft and pulverizing rock had ochre tones. A few plants with prickly
leaves above, and burdocks, reeds, and aquatic growths below, were
indication enough of the northern exposure and the poverty of the
soil. The bed of the torrent was of stone, quite hard, but yellow.
Evidently the two chains, though parallel and ripped asunder by one of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: scheme was utterly impracticable, and Mr. Lincoln was interested
in the report of his visit only because it showed that the
rebellion was nearing its end. This was so marked that he sent
Mr. Blair back again to Richmond with a note intended for the eye
of Jefferson Davis, saying that the government had constantly
been, was then, and would continue to be ready to receive any
agent Mr. Davis might send, "with a view of securing peace to the
people of our one common country."
Hopeless as their cause had by this time become, the Confederates
had no mind to treat for peace on any terms except independence
of the southern States; yet, on the other hand, they were in such
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