| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: and every working day of the week. My foreman, Mr. Cobb, was a good man,
and more than once protected me from abuse that one or more of the hands
was disposed to throw upon me. While in this situation I had little time
for mental improvement. Hard work, night and day, over a furnace hot
enough to keep the metal running like water, was more favorable
to action than thought; yet here I often nailed a newspaper to the post
near my bellows, and read while I was performing the up and down motion
of the heavy beam by which the bellows was inflated and discharged.
It was the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, and I look back to it now,
after so many years, with some complacency and a little wonder that I could
have been so earnest and persevering in any pursuit other than for my
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: "That's a principle?" commented Ossipon.
"It's a principle."
"And you think it's sound?"
The large round spectacles, which gave a look of staring self-
confidence to the sallow face, confronted Ossipon like sleepless,
unwinking orbs flashing a cold fire.
"Perfectly. Always. Under every circumstance. What could stop
me? Why should I not? Why should I think twice about it?"
Ossipon gasped, as it were, discreetly.
"Do you mean to say you would hand it over to a `teck' if one came
to ask you for your wares?"
The Secret Agent |
