| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: scarce time to intercept the blow with his target.
"Villain!" said Allan, in astonishment, "what means this?"
"I am Ranald of the Mist!" answered the Islesman, repeating the
blow; and with that word, they engaged in close and furious
conflict. It seemed to be decreed, that in Allan M'Aulay had
arisen the avenger of his mother's wrongs upon this wild tribe,
as was proved by the issue of the present, as well as of former
combats. After exchanging a few blows, Ranald MacEagh was
prostrated by a deep wound on the skull; and M'Aulay, setting his
foot on him, was about to pass the broadsword through his body,
when the point of the weapon was struck up by a third party, who
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: date: A. E. F. meant After England Failed. But why, months and months
afterwards, when everything was over, did that foolish doughboy in the
hospital hug this lone thing to his memory? It was the act of an
unthinking few. Didn't he notice what the rest of London was doing that
day? Didn't he remember that she flew the Union Jack and the Stars and
Stripes together from every symbolic pinnacle of creed and government
that rose above her continent of streets and dwellings to the sky?
Couldn't he feel that England, his old enemy and old mother, bowed and
stricken and struggling, was opening her arms to him wide? She's a person
who hides her tears even from herself; but it seems to me that, with a
drop of imagination and half a drop of thought, he might have discovered
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: I had somehow imbibed the opinion that, in the
absence of slaves, there could be no wealth, and very
little refinement. And upon coming to the north, I
expected to meet with a rough, hard-handed, and
uncultivated population, living in the most Spartan-
like simplicity, knowing nothing of the ease, luxury,
pomp, and grandeur of southern slaveholders. Such
being my conjectures, any one acquainted with the
appearance of New Bedford may very readily infer
how palpably I must have seen my mistake.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
