| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Contrast by Royall Tyler: And pray direct the taylor to make yours the height
of the fashion.
MANLY
Though it is of little consequence to me of what
shape my coat is, yet, as to the height of the fashion,
there you will please to excuse me, sister. You know
my sentiments on that subject. I have often lamented
the advantage which the French have over us in that
particular. In Paris, the fashions have their dawnings,
their routine, and declensions, and depend as much
upon the caprice of the day as in other countries; but
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain: just the mere land, and that's all they DO own; but it
was our folks, our Jews and Christians, that made it
holy, and so they haven't any business to be there
defiling it. It's a shame, and we ought not to stand it
a minute. We ought to march against them and take
it away from them."
"Why, it does seem to me it's the most mixed-up
thing I ever see! Now, if I had a farm and another
person --"
"Don't I tell you it hasn't got anything to do with
farming? Farming is business, just common low-down
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: concerned are within the reach of the very meanest capacity and the
most uncultivated mind. It is too difficult, because to meet such
requirements the artist would have to do violence to his
temperament, would have to write not for the artistic joy of
writing, but for the amusement of half-educated people, and so
would have to suppress his individualism, forget his culture,
annihilate his style, and surrender everything that is valuable in
him. In the case of the drama, things are a little better: the
theatre-going public like the obvious, it is true, but they do not
like the tedious; and burlesque and farcical comedy, the two most
popular forms, are distinct forms of art. Delightful work may be
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