| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--
as cheerfully to one section as to another.
There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives
from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly
written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:
"No person held to service or labor in one State,
under the laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall in consequence of any law or regulation
therein be discharged from such service or labor,
but shall be delivered up on claim of the party
to whom such service or labor may be due."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: and, his field glass to his eyes, watched all that was going
on in the neighborhood of Kolyvan, so as to complete his
information. In a few minutes he resumed his place at
the wicket, and added to his telegram: "Two churches are
in flames. The fire appears to gain on the right. 'John
Gilpin's spouse said to her dear, Though wedded we have
been these twice ten tedious years, yet we no holiday have
seen.'"
Alcide Jolivet would have liked to strangle the honorable
correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.
He again interrupted the clerk, who, quite unmoved,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: instruments of thought. Though they may be shorn of their glory, they
retain their place in the organism of knowledge.
And still there remain many rules of morals which are better explained and
more forcibly inculcated on the principle of utility than on any other.
The question Will such and such an action promote the happiness of myself,
my family, my country, the world? may check the rising feeling of pride or
honour which would cause a quarrel, an estrangement, a war. 'How can I
contribute to the greatest happiness of others?' is another form of the
question which will be more attractive to the minds of many than a
deduction of the duty of benevolence from a priori principles. In politics
especially hardly any other argument can be allowed to have weight except
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