| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: the memories of this odd old soldier. He told me his story, and I saw
that he was right when he exclaimed, 'Well known.' "
When she got home, she teased me to that extent, was so charming, and
made so many promises, that I consented to communicate to her the
confidences of the old soldier. Next day she received the following
episode of an epic which one might call "The French in Egypt."
During the expedition in Upper Egypt under General Desaix, a Provencal
soldier fell into the hands of the Maugrabins, and was taken by these
Arabs into the deserts beyond the falls of the Nile.
In order to place a sufficient distance between themselves and the
French army, the Maugrabins made forced marches, and only halted when
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: half, of the weight of the productive labours of her societies, in addition
to child-bearing; and allowing more fully that she may be as well able to
sustain her share in the intellectual labours of the future as in the more
mechanical labours of the past; granting all this, may there not be one
aspect of the question left out of consideration which may reverse all
conclusions as to the desirability, and the human good to be attained by
woman's enlarged freedom and her entering into the new fields of toil?
What if, the increased culture and mental activity of woman necessary for
her entrance into the new fields, however desirable in other ways for
herself and the race, should result in a diminution, or in an absolute
abolition of the sexual attraction and affection, which in all ages of the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: all these tumultuary questions I could find no answer; and in
the turmoil of my mind, nothing was plain except the hateful
leering image of the woman.
I was still running, mad with fear and anger, when I saw my
father coming to meet me from the landing-place; and with a
cry that I thought would have killed me, leaped into his arms
and broke into a passion of sobs and tears upon his bosom.
He made me sit down below a tall palmetto that grew not far
off; comforted me, but with some abstraction in his voice;
and as soon as I regained the least command upon my feelings,
asked me, not without harshness, what this grief betokened.
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