| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: by this petty trade, stirred the spleen of the captain, who had a
sovereign contempt for the one-eyed chieftain and all his crew.
He complained loudly of having his ship lumbered by a host of
"Indian ragamuffins," who had not a skin to dispose of, and at
length put his positive interdict upon all trafficking on board.
Upon this Mr. M'Dougal was fain to land, and establish his
quarters at the encampment, where he could exercise his rights
and enjoy his dignities without control.
The feud, however, between these rival powers still continued,
but was chiefly carried on by letter. Day after day and week
after week elapsed, yet the store-house requisite for the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: not the less necessary for this; for the people must have
some complicated machinery or other, and hear its din, to
satisfy that idea of government which they have.
Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed
upon, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage.
It is excellent, we must all allow. Yet this government
never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the
alacrity with which it got out of its way. It does not keep
the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not
educate. The character inherent in the American people has
done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: You'll stay, and be my dear wife, and I shall thank God for giving
me my life as I never thanked him before."
"Adam, it's hard to me to turn a deaf ear...you know it's hard;
but a great fear is upon me. It seems to me as if you were
stretching out your arms to me, and beckoning me to come and take
my ease and live for my own delight, and Jesus, the Man of
Sorrows, was standing looking towards me, and pointing to the
sinful, and suffering, and afflicted. I have seen that again and
again when I have been sitting in stillness and darkness, and a
great terror has come upon me lest I should become hard, and a
lover of self, and no more bear willingly the Redeemer's cross."
Adam Bede |
