| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: Bedford to give me a living, I prepared myself to do any kind of
work that came to hand. I sawed wood, shoveled coal, dug cellars,
moved rubbish from back yards, worked on the wharves, loaded and
unloaded vessels, and scoured their cabins.
I afterward got steady work at the brass-foundry owned by Mr. Richmond.
My duty here was to blow the bellows, swing the crane, and empty the flasks
in which castings were made; and at times this was hot and heavy work.
The articles produced here were mostly for ship work, and in the busy season
the foundry was in operation night and day. I have often worked two nights
and every working day of the week. My foreman, Mr. Cobb, was a good man,
and more than once protected me from abuse that one or more of the hands
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: and afterward, as he was giving his eldest boy a lesson on the
fiddle, his mind dwelt no longer on his troubles, but he was rapt
into the better land; and no sooner was he at liberty than he
hastened with positive exhilaration to his studio.
Not even the sight of the barrel could entirely cast him down. He
flung himself with rising zest into his work--a bust of Mr
Gladstone from a photograph; turned (with extraordinary success)
the difficulty of the back of the head, for which he had no
documents beyond a hazy recollection of a public meeting;
delighted himself by his treatment of the collar; and was only
recalled to the cares of life by Michael Finsbury's rattle at the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: that offended principle was all his own. In addition to his
expenses he was to be conveniently paid, and I found myself able to
help him, for the usual fat book, to a plausible arrangement with
the usual fat publisher. I naturally inferred that his obvious
desire to make a little money was not unconnected with the prospect
of a union with Gwendolen Erme. I was aware that her mother's
opposition was largely addressed to his want of means and of
lucrative abilities, but it so happened that, on my saying the last
time I saw him something that bore on the question of his
separation from our young lady, he brought out with an emphasis
that startled me: "Ah I'm not a bit engaged to her, you know!"
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