| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Complete Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Oh stay," the maiden said, "and rest
Thy weary head upon this breast!"
A tear stood in his bright blue eye,
But still he answered, with a sigh,
Excelsior!
"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch!
Beware the awful avalanche!"
This was the peasant's last Good-night,
A voice replied, far up the height,
Excelsior!
At break of day, as heavenward
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: went off to make coffee, which he begged the select few to accept, and
his wife cleared the table. The Count, sitting near the stove between
Marianna and Gambara, was in the very position which the mad musician
thought most desirable, with sensuousness on one side and idealism on
the other. Gambara finding himself for the first time in the society
of a man who did not laugh at him to his face, soon diverged from
generalities to talk of himself, of his life, his work, and the
musical regeneration of which he believed himself to be the Messiah.
"Listen," said he, "you who so far have not insulted me. I will tell
you the story of my life; not to make a boast of my perseverance,
which is no virtue of mine, but to the greater glory of Him who has
Gambara |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: always a message for or about Tad. One of them shows that his
pets, like their young master, were allowed great liberty. It was
written when the family was living at the Soldiers' Home, and
Mrs. Lincoln and Tad had gone away for a visit. "Tell dear Tad,"
he wrote, "that poor Nanny Goat is lost, and Mrs. Cuthbert and I
are in distress about it. The day you left, Nanny was found
resting herself and chewing her little cud on the middle of Tad's
bed; but now she's gone! The gardener kept complaining that she
destroyed the flowers, till it was concluded to bring her down to
the White House. This was done, and the second day she had
disappeared and has not been heard of since. This is the last we
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