| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: President should be elected. The Democrats, unable to agree among
themselves, split into two sections, the Northerners nominating
Stephen A. Douglas for President, while delegates who had come to
their National Convention from what were called the Cotton States
chose John C. Breckinridge. A few men who had belonged to the old
Whig party, but felt themselves unable to join the Republicans or
either faction of the Democrats, met elsewhere and nominated John
Bell.
This breaking up of their political enemies into three distinct
camps greatly cheered the Republicans, and when their National
Convention came together in Chicago on May 16, 1860, its members
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: soft, and at the same time vibrating intonation that
instilled a strangely penetrating power into the
sound of the most familiar English words, as if
they had been the words of an unearthly language.
And he always would come to an end, with many
emphatic shakes of his head, upon that awful sen-
sation of his heart melting within him directly he
set foot on board that ship. Afterwards there
seemed to come for him a period of blank ignorance,
at any rate as to facts. No doubt he must have
been abominably sea-sick and abominably unhappy
Amy Foster |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Just Folks by Edgar A. Guest: World-wide the little fellows
Now are sweetly saying "please,"
And "thank you," and "excuse me,
And those little pleasantries
That good children are supposed to
When there's company to hear;
And it's just as plain as can be
That the Christmas time is near.
Ho, it's just as plain as can be that old Santa's on his way,
For there are no little children that are really bad to-day.
And when evening shadows lengthen,
Just Folks |
