The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: The Eagle seeks its daily bread.
How aptly fact to fact replies:
Heroes and eagles, hills and skies.
Ye who contemn the fatted slave
Look on this emblem, and be brave.
Poem: IV
See in the print how, moved by whim,
Trumpeting Jumbo, great and grim,
Adjusts his trunk, like a cravat,
To noose that individual's hat.
The sacred Ibis in the distance
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: man rises three inches above the newspaper level? Nobody reads
Thoreau; only an insignificant fraction read Emerson, or even
Hawthorne. The majority of people have hardly even heard their
names. What inducement has a writer? Nobody has any weight in
America who is not in Congress, and nobody gets into Congress
without the necessity of bribing or button-holing men whom he
despises."
"But you do not care for public life?" said Harry.
"No," said Malbone, "therefore this does not trouble me, but it
troubles you. I am content. My digestion is good. I can
always amuse myself. Why are you not satisfied?"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: He came down again soon, however, and returned with something
over his arm that looked like a rope. It seemed to be made of all
kinds of things tied together, trunk straps, clothesline, bed
sheets, and something that Flannigan pointed to with rage and
said he hadn't been able to keep his clothes on all day. He
refused to explain further, however, and trailed the nondescript
article up the stairs. We could only gaze after him and wonder
what it all meant.
The conclave lasted far into the night. The feminine contingent
went to bed, but not to sleep. Some time after midnight, Mr.
Harbison and Max went downstairs and I could hear them rattling
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