| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: trial with equanimity.
Indeed I may say that, upon the whole, my new position sat lightly
and naturally upon my spirits. I accepted the consequences with
readiness, and found them far from difficult to bear. The steerage
conquered me; I conformed more and more to the type of the place, not
only in manner but at heart, growing hostile to the officers and
cabin passengers who looked down upon me, and day by day greedier for
small delicacies. Such was the result, as I fancy, of a diet of
bread and butter, soup and porridge. We think we have no sweet tooth
as long as we are full to the brim of molasses; but a man must have
sojourned in the workhouse before he boasts himself indifferent to
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Contrast by Royall Tyler: of the century. Its authorship has been accredited
both to Philip Freneau and to Mrs. Hunter, the wife
of the celebrated English physician, John Hunter. It
was published as by Freneau in the American Museum,
where it appears (with slight changes from the version
in the 'Contrast') in vol. I., page 77. But Freneau
never claimed to have written it, and never placed it
among his own collections of his poems, several editions
of which he made long after the 'Contrast' was pub-
lished. Mrs. Hunter's poems were not printed till
1806, and the version of the song there printed is an
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: "I must apologize again," said the young man, "for so
soon intruding upon you with my marital infelicities,
but, as my wife has neglected to furnish me with her
address, I am deprived of the legitimate recourse of a
family row."
"I am quite a plain man," said Father Rogan, pleas-
antly; "but I do not see how I am to ask you questions."
"Pardon my indirectness," said Lorison; "I will ask
one. In this room to-night you pronounced me to be a
husband. You afterward spoke of additional rites or
performances that either should or could be effected. I
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