| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: as they cleared themselves a passage through the thick tall fern,
without any fear of catching cold, which was not much in fashion
in the twelfth century. Robin was as hospitable as Cathmor;
for seven men stood on seven paths to call the stranger to his feast.
It is true, he superadded the small improvement of making
the stranger pay for it: than which what could be more generous?
For Cathmor was himself the prime giver of his feast,
whereas Robin was only the agent to a series of strangers,
who provided in turn for the entertainment of their successors;
which is carrying the disinterestedness of hospitality to its acme.
Marian often killed the deer,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: the German, his grey eyes flashing, and his bushy black beard adding to the
murderous fury of his aspect. Then suddenly subsiding, he said, "But all
is now well; Tant Sannie gives her word that the maid shall remain for some
days. I go to Oom Muller's tomorrow to learn if the sheep may not be
there. If they are not, then I return. They are gone, that is all. I
make it good."
"Tant Sannie is a singular woman," said Bonaparte, taking the tobacco bag
the German passed to him.
"Singular! Yes," said the German; "but her heart is on her right side. I
have lived long years with her, and I may say, I have for her an affection,
which she returns. I may say," added the German with warmth, "I may say,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: the manners of the group. A very intelligent missionary described
it (in its former state) as a 'Paradise of naked women' for the
resident whites. It was at least a platonic Paradise, where
Lothario ventured at his peril. Since 1860, fourteen whites have
perished on a single island, all for the same cause, all found
where they had no business, and speared by some indignant father of
a family; the figure was given me by one of their contemporaries
who had been more prudent and survived. The strange persistence of
these fourteen martyrs might seem to point to monomania or a series
of romantic passions; gin is the more likely key. The poor
buzzards sat alone in their houses by an open case; they drank;
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