| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: "incuria"--to use the new slang--attains to its most monumental
in this matter.
So there is not much to say about how the British think about the
French. They do not think. They feel. At the outbreak of the
war, when the performance of France seemed doubtful, there was an
enormous feeling for France in Great Britain; it was like the
formless feeling one has for a brother. It was as if Britain had
discovered a new instinct. If France had crumpled up like paper,
the English would have fought on passionately to restore her.
That is ancient history now. Now the English still feel
fraternal and fraternally proud; but in a mute way they are
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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 Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: Something hard pressed her cheek, and she lifted her hand to move
it aside. He drew forth a flat medallion case; and to the
unconscious question in her face, such a sad, tender smile came to
his lips, that she could not repress a sudden pain. Was it the
miniature of his dead wife?
He opened the case, and showed her, under the glass, a faded,
pressed flower.
"What is it?" she asked.
"The Brandywine cowslip you dropped, when you spoke to me in the
lane. Then it was that you showed me the first step of the way."
She laid her head again upon his bosom. Hour after hour they sat,
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