| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: me that if the oxen started to run away, as the scamp knew they
would, I must hold on to the rope and stop them. I need not tell
any one who is acquainted with either the strength of the
disposition of an untamed ox, that this order <163 FIRST
ADVENTURE AT OX DRIVING>was about as unreasonable as a command to
shoulder a mad bull! I had never driven oxen before, and I was
as awkward, as a driver, as it is possible to conceive. It did
not answer for me to plead ignorance, to Mr. Covey; there was
something in his manner that quite forbade that. He was a man to
whom a slave seldom felt any disposition to speak. Cold,
distant, morose, with a face wearing all the marks of captious
My Bondage and My Freedom |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: in Dunedin. "Yes," was the reply. "Look here," said Butler,
"you are the only man I ever made any kind of confidant of. You
are a good scholar, though I could teach you a lot." After this
gracious compliment he went on: "I was once tried in Dunedin on
the charge of killing a man, woman and child, and although
innocent, the crime was nearly brought home to me. It was my own
ability that pulled me through. Had I employed a professional
advocate, I should not have been here to-day talking to you."
After describing the murder, Butler said: "Trying to fire the
house was unnecessary, and killing the baby was unnecessary and
cruel. I respect no man's life, for no man respects mine. A lot
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: Forward," but usually described by critics of the
Mensheviks as "Forever Backward"). The resolution
pointed out that in spite of the Mensheviks having agreed
on the need of supporting the Soviet Government they were
actually carrying on an agitation, the effect of which could
only be to weaken the army. An example was given of an
article, "Stop the Civil War," in which they had pointed out
that the war was costing a great deal, and that much of the
food supplies went to the army. On these grounds they had
demanded the cessation of the civil war. The Committee
pointed out that the Mensheviks were making
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: She says, "Tis so:' they answer all, "Tis so;'
And would say after her, if she said 'No'. 852
Lo! here the gentle lark, weary of rest,
From his moist cabinet mounts up on high,
And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast
The sun ariseth in his majesty; 856
Who doth the world so gloriously behold,
That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish'd gold.
Venus salutes him with this fair good morrow:
'O thou clear god, and patron of all light, 860
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