The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: it appeared, and my heart beat as I approached the door. The
specimen of Perfidious Albion whom I had just been studying gave me
the stronger zest for my fellow-countrymen. I could have embraced
them; I could have wept on their necks. And all the time I was
going to a disappointment.
It was in a spacious and low room, with an outlook on the court,
that I found them bestowed. In the good days of that house the
apartment had probably served as a library, for there were traces
of shelves along the wainscot. Four or five mattresses lay on the
floor in a corner, with a frowsy heap of bedding; near by was a
basin and a cube of soap; a rude kitchen-table and some deal chairs
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest: skill.
Hate it, with hatred that's deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed 'twill break any
man;
Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
And answer this demon by saying: "I _can_."
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
_Written July 22, 1916, when the
world lost its "Poet of Childhood."_
There must be great rejoicin' on the Golden
Shore to-day,
 A Heap O' Livin' |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: invited to sup with him the next night, being his birthday.
As soon as it was morning, the signal of battle, the scarlet
coat, was set out in Brutus's and Cassius's camps, and they
themselves met in the middle space between their two armies.
There Cassius spoke thus to Brutus: "Be it as we hope, O Brutus,
that this day we may overcome, and all the rest of our time may
live a happy life together; but since the greatest of human
concerns are the most uncertain, and since it may be difficult
for us ever to see one another again, if the battle should go
against us, tell me, what is your resolution concerning flight
and death?" Brutus answered, "When I was young, Cassius, and
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