| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: without saying a word! You do not know how vexed I am;
I shall have no pleasure at Clifton, nor in anything else.
I had rather, ten thousand times rather, get out now,
and walk back to them. How could you say you saw them driving
out in a phaeton?" Thorpe defended himself very stoutly,
declared he had never seen two men so much alike in his life,
and would hardly give up the point of its having been
Tilney himself.
Their drive, even when this subject was over, was not
likely to be very agreeable. Catherine's complaisance
was no longer what it had been in their former airing.
Northanger Abbey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: though Mr. Lincoln did not live to see it a part of the
Constitution, Secretary Seward, on December 18, 1865, only a few
months after Mr. Lincoln's death, was able to make official
announcement that 29 States, constituting a majority of three-
fourths of the 36 States of the Union, had adopted it, and that
therefore it was the law of the land.
Jefferson Davis had issued a last appeal to "fire the southern
heart," but the situation at Richmond was becoming desperate
Flour cost a thousand dollars a barrel in Confederate money, and
neither the flour nor the money were sufficient for their needs.
Squads of guards were sent into the streets with directions to
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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 Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: the box hedge].
CROFTS. Oh, all right. [He goes with the parson].
[Praed follows with Mrs Warren. Vivie does not stir: she watches
them until they have gone, with all the lines of purpose in her
face marking it strongly.]
FRANK. Aint you coming?
VIVIE. No. I want to give you a warning, Frank. You were
making fun of my mother just now when you said that about the
rectory garden. That is barred in the future. Please treat my
mother with as much respect as you treat your own.
FRANK. My dear Viv: she wouldnt appreciate it: the two cases
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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 Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: the night, and in the morning went with me to Mr. David Ruggles,
the secretary of the New York Vigilance Committee, a co-worker with
Isaac T. Hopper, Lewis and Arthur Tappan, Theodore S. Wright, Samuel Cornish,
Thomas Downing, Philip A. Bell, and other true men of their time.
All these (save Mr. Bell, who still lives, and is editor and publisher of a paper
called the "Elevator," in San Francisco) have finished their work on earth.
Once in the hands of these brave and wise men, I felt comparatively safe.
With Mr. Ruggles, on the corner of Lispenard and Church streets,
I was hidden several days, during which time my intended wife came on
from Baltimore at my call, to share the burdens of life with me.
She was a free woman, and came at once on getting the good news of my safety.
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