| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: giveness to those who would repent.
The dissenters kept silent at first. Then, be-
ing asked questions, they gave answers. To the
question why they dissented, they said that their
chief reason was the fact that the Church wor-
shipped gods made of wood, which, far from be-
ing ordained, were condemned by the Scriptures.
When asked by Missael whether they actually
considered the holy ikons to be mere planks of
wood, Chouev answered,--
"Just look at the back of any ikon you choose
The Forged Coupon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: For no nation in a state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce,
and cramped and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive
at any material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is;
and although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled
in the history of other nations, it is but childhood,
compared with what she would be capable of arriving at,
had she, as she ought to have, the legislative powers in her own hands.
England is, at this time, proudly coveting what would do her no good,
were she to accomplish it; and the Continent hesitating on a matter,
which will be her final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce
and not the conquest of America, by which England is to he benefited,
Common Sense |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: use such words in a new sense. As to his strength, he was habitually
incapable of enduring the fatigue of any game, and seemed weakly,
almost infirm. But during the early days of his school-life, one of
our little bullies having made game of this sickliness, which rendered
him unfit for the violent exercise in vogue among his fellows, Lambert
took hold with both hands of one of the class-tables, consisting of
twelve large desks, face to face and sloping from the middle; he
leaned back against the class-master's desk, steadying the table with
his feet on the cross-bar below, and said:
"Now, ten of you try to move it!"
I was present, and can vouch for this strange display of strength; it
Louis Lambert |
