| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: I had anything to do till I became such an officer myself.
Learning that my trade was that of a calker, he promptly decided
that the best place for me was in New Bedford, Mass.
He told me that many ships for whaling voyages were fitted out there,
and that I might there find work at my trade and make a good living.
So, on the day of the marriage ceremony, we took our little luggage
to the steamer John W. Richmond, which, at that time, was one of the line
running between New York and Newport, R. I. Forty-three years ago
colored travelers were not permitted in the cabin, nor allowed abaft
the paddle-wheels of a steam vessel. They were compelled,
whatever the weather might be,--whether cold or hot, wet or dry,--
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: and at the far end with Climene, over whom he was bending from his
fine height, his eyes intent upon her face, what time his smiling
lips moved in talk, M. de La Tour d'Azyr. He had her entirely to
himself, a privilege none of the men of fashion who were in the
habit of visiting the coulisse had yet enjoyed. Those lesser
gentlemen had all withdrawn before the Marquis, as jackals withdraw
before the lion.
Andre-Louis stared a moment, stricken. Then recovering from his
surprise he became critical in his study of the Marquis. He
considered the beauty and grace and splendour of him, his courtly
air, his complete and unshakable self-possession. But more than
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: Diderot, people must make up their minds to it, and accept the fact
that great men had upholsterers and clockmakers and cutlers for their
fathers. She said that genius was always noble. She railed at boorish
squires for understanding their real interests so imperfectly. In
short, she talked a good deal of nonsense, which would have let the
light into heads less dense, but left her audience agape at her
eccentricity. And in these ways she conjured away the storm with her
heavy artillery.
When Lucien, obedient to her request, appeared for the first time in
the faded great drawing-room, where the whist-tables were set out, she
welcomed him graciously, and brought him forward, like a queen who
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