| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: Among the two hundred selected paintings, the public could still
choose: a crown was awarded to the masterpiece by hands unseen. Eager,
impassioned discussions arose about some picture. The abuse showered
on Delacroix, on Ingres, contributed no less to their fame than the
praises and fanaticism of their adherents. To-day, neither the crowd
nor the criticism grows impassioned about the products of that bazaar.
Forced to make the selection for itself, which in former days the
examining jury made for it, the attention of the public is soon
wearied and the exhibition closes. Before the year 1817 the pictures
admitted never went beyond the first two columns of the long gallery
of the old masters; but in that year, to the great astonishment of the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: He calls together the mountain rulers; makes friends with Tigranes,
an Armenian prince, a vassal of the Mede, who has his wrongs
likewise to avenge. And the two little armies of foot-soldiers--the
Persians had no cavalry--defeat the innumerable horsemen of the
Mede, take the old king, keep him in honourable captivity, and so
change, one legend says, in a single battle, the fortunes of the
whole East.
And then begins that series of conquests of which we know hardly
anything, save the fact that they were made. The young mountaineer
and his playmates, whom he makes his generals and satraps, sweep
onward towards the West, teaching their men the art of riding, till
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: very little comedy."
"It was not well planned," Aunt Selina retorted tartly. "The idea
was good, but the young person who was playing the part of Mrs.
Wilson--overacted."
"Oh, come, Aunt Selina, Jim protested, "Kit was coaxed and
cajoled into this thing. Give me fits if you like; I deserve all
I get. But let Kit alone--she did it for me."
Bella looked over at me and smiled nastily.
"I would stop doing things for Jim, Kit," she said. "It is SO
unprofitable."
But Mr. Harbison harked back to Aunt Selina's speech.
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