| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, by unnaturally opposing
and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless.
Some writers have explained the English constitution thus: The king,
say they, is one, the people another; the peers are a house in behalf
of the king, the commons in behalf of the people; but this hath all
the distinctions of a house divided against itself; and though
the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined,
they appear idle and ambiguous; and it will always happen,
that the nicest construction that words are capable of,
when applied to the description of some thing which either
cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be within
Common Sense |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe: to have _all_ sold?"
Mrs. Shelby stood like one stricken. Finally, turning to her
toilet, she rested her face in her hands, and gave a sort of groan.
"This is God's curse on slavery!--a bitter, bitter, most
accursed thing!--a curse to the master and a curse to the slave!
I was a fool to think I could make anything good out of such a
deadly evil. It is a sin to hold a slave under laws like ours,--I
always felt it was,--I always thought so when I was a girl,--I
thought so still more after I joined the church; but I thought I
could gild it over,--I thought, by kindness, and care, and instruction,
I could make the condition of mine better than freedom--fool that
Uncle Tom's Cabin |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Songs of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: XVIII. The stormy evening closes now in vain
XIX. TO DR. HAKE - In the beloved hour that ushers day
XX. TO - I knew thee strong and quiet like the hills
XXI. The morning drum-call on my eager ear
XXII. I have trod the upward and downward slope
XXIII. He hears with gladdened heart the thunder
XXIV. Farewell, fair day and fading light!
XXV. IF THIS WERE FAITH - God, if this were enough
XXVI. MY WIFE - Trusty, dusky, vivid, true
XXVII. TO THE MUSE - Resign the rhapsody, the dream
XXVIII. TO AN ISLAND PRINCESS - Since long ago, a child at home
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