| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: "What is your name?" asked the mayor, giving him a shrewd and meaning
look.
"Julien Jussieu."
"Where do you come from?" continued the magistrate, with a smile of
incredulity.
"Paris."
"Your comrades are at some distance," resumed the Norman official, in
a sarcastic tone.
"I am nine miles in advance of the battalion."
"Some strong feeling must be bringing you to Carentan, citizen
recruit," said the mayor, slyly. "Very good, very good," he added
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution--
to this provision as much as to any other. To the proposition,
then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause
"shall be delivered up", their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they
would make the effort in good temper, could they not with nearly
equal unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good
that unanimous oath?
There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should
be enforced by national or by State authority; but surely that
difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be
surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to others
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland:
"He returned to the mountain grotto, devoted himself to
the study of the occult principles of the 'Old Philosopher'
until the material elements of his mortal frame were gradually
evaporated or sublimated, and without having passed
through the change which men call death, he became an
immortal spirit returning whence he came."
Just as the old woman finished this story, my teacher,
who always took a nap after lunch, ascended the steps.
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