| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: of singular importance to inquire what are the natural
propensities of the men of whom these armies are composed.
Amongst aristocratic nations, especially amongst those in
which birth is the only source of rank, the same inequality
exists in the army as in the nation; the officer is noble, the
soldier is a serf; the one is naturally called upon to command,
the other to obey. In aristocratic armies, the private soldier's
ambition is therefore circumscribed within very narrow limits.
Nor has the ambition of the officer an unlimited range. An
aristocratic body not only forms a part of the scale of ranks in
the nation, but it contains a scale of ranks within itself: the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: with these people, whatever they may do.
They are much too nice, in the first place, and in the second, it
would throw out all the passenger traffic of the Atlantic, and
upset the financial arrangements of the English syndicates who
have invested their money in breweries, railways, and the like,
and in the third, it's not to be done. Everybody knows that, and
no one better than the American.
Yet there are other powers who are not "ohai band" (of the
brotherhood)--China, for instance. Try to believe an
irresponsible writer when he assures you that China's fleet
to-day, if properly manned, could waft the entire American navy
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: these sayings have some truth in them. See there," he continued,
turning round to show us a thing we had not remarked, "look at that
wooden cross he has set up there, to the left, to show that he has put
himself under the protection of God and the holy Virgin and the
saints. But the fear that people have of him keeps him as safe as if
he were guarded by a troop of soldiers. He has never said one word
since he locked himself up in the open air in this way; he lives on
bread and water, which is brought to him every morning by his
brother's daughter, a little lass about twelve years old to whom he
has left his property, a pretty creature, gentle as a lamb, a nice
little girl, so pleasant. She has such blue eyes, long as THAT," he
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