| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: incomprehensible. I have not yet tranquillised myself enough to see
Frederica. SHE shall not soon forget the occurrences of this day; she shall
find that she has poured forth her tender tale of love in vain, and exposed
herself for ever to the contempt of the whole world, and the severest
resentment of her injured mother.
Your affectionate
S. VERNON.
XXIII
MRS. VERNON TO LADY DE COURCY
Churchhill.
Let me congratulate you, my dearest Mother! The affair which has given
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: The chief magistrate derives all his authority from the people,
and they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the
separation of the states. The people themselves can do this
also if they choose; but the executive, as such, has nothing to
do with it. His duty is to administer the present government,
as it came to his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him,
to his successor.
Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice
of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world?
In our present differences is either party without faith of being
in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with his eternal
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: one among thousands who go down inarticulate into the depths, They die
and make no sign, or, worse still, they continue to exist, carrying
about with them, year after year, the bitter ashes of a life from which
the furnace of misfortune has burnt away all joy, and hope, and
strength. Who is there who has not been confronted by many despairing
ones, who come, as Richard O---- went, to the clergyman, crying for
help, and how seldom have we been able to give it them? It is unjust,
no doubt, for them to blame the clergy and the comfortable well-to-do
--for what can they do but preach and offer good advice? To assist
all the Richard O----s' by direct financial advance would drag even
Rothschild into the gutter. And what else can be done? Yet something
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
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: THE ELL--HOW I PURSUED MY EDUCATION--MY TUTORS--HOW I COMPENSATED
THEM--WHAT PROGRESS I MADE--SLAVERY--WHAT I HEARD SAID ABOUT IT--
THIRTEEN YEARS OLD--THE _Columbian Orator_--A RICH SCENE--A
DIALOGUE--SPEECHES OF CHATHAM, SHERIDAN, PITT AND FOX--KNOWLEDGE
EVER INCREASING--MY EYES OPENED--LIBERTY--HOW I PINED FOR IT--MY
SADNESS--THE DISSATISFACTION OF MY POOR MISTRESS--MY HATRED OF
SLAVERY--ONE UPAS TREE OVERSHADOWED US BOTH.
I lived in the family of Master Hugh, at Baltimore, seven years,
during which time--as the almanac makers say of the weather--my
condition was variable. The most interesting feature of my
history here, was my learning to read and write, under somewhat
My Bondage and My Freedom |
