| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: fed by the drainage of the highly cultivated ground above, for rainy
weather washes down the manure into the garden on the terrace.
A vinedresser's cottage also leans against the western gable, and is
in some sort a continuation of the kitchen. Stone walls or espaliers
surround the property, and all sorts of fruit-trees are planted among
the vines; in short, not an inch of this precious soil is wasted. If
by chance man overlooks some dry cranny in the rocks, Nature puts in a
fig-tree, or sows wildflowers or strawberries in sheltered nooks among
the stones.
Nowhere else in all the world will you find a human dwelling so humble
and yet so imposing, so rich in fruit, and fragrant scents, and wide
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: It seems to me somehow that God himself
Scans with a close reproach what I have done,
Counts with an unphrased patience my arrears,
And fathoms my unprofitable thoughts.
Calvary
Friendless and faint, with martyred steps and slow,
Faint for the flesh, but for the spirit free,
Stung by the mob that came to see the show,
The Master toiled along to Calvary;
We gibed him, as he went, with houndish glee,
Till his dimmed eyes for us did overflow;
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: "Zadok," said the Wise Man, "give me the staff of life and
death;" and the Demon brought from under his clothes a wand,
one-half of which was of silver and one-half of which was of
gold. The Wise Man touched the steps of the palace with the
silver end of the staff. Instantly all the sound and hum of life
was hushed. The thread of life was cut by the knife of silence,
and in a moment all was as still as death.
"Zadok," said the Wise Man, "transport me to the treasure-house
of the king of Egypt." And instantly the Demon had transported
him thither. The Wise Man drew a circle upon the earth. "No one,"
said he, "shall have power to enter here but the master of Zadok,
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