| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: from reflecting how important a means of communication
and commerce it forms between one nation and another; to
what a distance it travels, and from how vast a territory
it drains the great body of fresh water which flows past
your feet.
For many leagues north and south of San Nicolas and
Rozario, the country is really level. Scarcely anything which
travellers have written about its extreme flatness, can be
considered as exaggeration. Yet I could never find a spot
where, by slowly turning round, objects were not seen at
greater distances in some directions than in others; and
The Voyage of the Beagle |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland: elephants made of a grayish kind of cloth on which were
harnesses similar to those supposed to be necessary for those
animals. He had bears with bits of hair on neck and tail
and a leading string in the nose; horses painted with spots
of white and red, matched only by the most remarkable
animals in a circus; monkeys with black beads for eyes, and
long tails; lions, tigers, and leopards, with large, savage,
black, glass eyes, with manes or tails suited to each, and
properly crooked by a wire extending to the tip. And
finally he laid the bogi-boo, a nondescript with a head on
each end much like the head of a lion or tiger. When not
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: clean apron and mutch having been slipt on, Lucy welcomed Rose with
endless courtesies, and--"Bless my dear soul alive, who ever would
have thought to see the Rose of Torridge to my poor little place!"
Rose sat down: and then? How to begin was more than she knew, and
she stayed silent a full five minutes, looking earnestly at the
point of her shoe, till Lucy, who was an adept in such cases,
thought it best to proceed to business at once, and save Rose the
delicate operation of opening the ball herself; and so, in her own
way, half fawning, half familiar--
"Well, my dear young lady, and what is it I can do for ye? For I
guess you want a bit of old Lucy's help, eh? Though I'm most mazed
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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 My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: enjoyed. But I will take it for granted that you know something
about the degrading influences of slavery, and that you will not
expect great things from me this evening, but simply such facts
as I may be able to advance immediately in connection with my own
experience of slavery.
Now, what is this system of slavery? This is the subject of my
lecture this evening--what is the character of this institution?
I am about to answer the inquiry, what is American slavery? I do
this the more readily, since I have found persons in this country
who have identified the term slavery with that which I think it
is not, and in some instances, I have feared, in so doing, have
My Bondage and My Freedom |
