| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: feelings may be--usually are--on the whole, generous and right; but
it has no foundation for them, no hold of them; you may tease or
tickle it into any, at your pleasure; it thinks by infection, for
the most part, catching an opinion like a cold, and there is nothing
so little that it will not roar itself wild about, when the fit is
on;--nothing so great but it will forget in an hour, when the fit is
past. But a gentleman's, or a gentle nation's, passions are just,
measured, and continuous. A great nation, for instance, does not
spend its entire national wits for a couple of months in weighing
evidence of a single ruffian's having done a single murder; and for
a couple of years see its own children murder each other by their
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Crowd by Gustave le Bon: equivalent of the lettre de cachet, with this difference, that
the latter, with the use of which the monarchy was so justly
reproached, could only be resorted to by persons occupying a very
high position, while the warrant is an instrument in the hands of
a whole class of citizens which is far from passing for being
very enlightened or very independent.
Being well acquainted with the psychology of castes, and also
with the psychology of other categories of crowds, I do not
perceive a single case in which, wrongly accused of a crime, I
should not prefer to have to deal with a jury rather than with
magistrates. I should have some chance that my innocence would
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: my interests are in sheep instead of cattle--"
"I thought most of your interests were in other people's
property," interrupted the young woman.
"It goes into sheep ultimately," he smiled. "Now, what I am
trying to get at is this: I'm in debt to you a heap, Miss
Messiter, and since I'm not all yellow cur, I intend to play fair
with you. I have ordered my sheep back across the deadline. You
can have this range to yourself for your cattle. The fight's off
so far as we personally are concerned."
A hint of deeper color touched her cheeks. Her manner had been
cavalier at best; for the most part frankly hostile; and all the
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