| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: Persians we owe that we are here to-night?
I do not say that without them we should not have been here. God, I
presume, when He is minded to do anything, has more than one way of
doing it.
But that we are now the last link in a chain of causes and effects
which reaches as far back as the emigration of the Persians
southward from the plateau of Pamir, we cannot doubt.
For see. By the fall of Babylon and its empire the Jews were freed
from their captivity--large numbers of them at least--and sent home
to their own Jerusalem. What motives prompted Cyrus, and Darius
after him, to do that deed?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from One Basket by Edna Ferber: that he cared for, but still one to be played if his master
fancied it. Ben stooped, picked up a stone, and threw it at
Dunder, striking him in the flank.
"Go on home!" he commanded sternly. "Go home!" He started
toward the dog with a well-feigned gesture of menace. Dunder,
with a low howl, put his tail between his legs and loped off
home, a disillusioned dog.
Bella stood looking up at Ben. Ben looked down at her. "You're
the new teacher, ain't you?"
"Yes. I guess you must think I'm a fool, going on like a baby
about that dog."
One Basket |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, given November 19, 1863
on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA
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Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth
upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether
that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . .
can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live.
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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 The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: lands and other lordships, for he is more rich. For he hath, every
year, of annual rent 300,000 horses charged with corn of diverse
grains and of rice. And so he leadeth a full noble life and a
delicate, after the custom of the country. For he hath, every day,
fifty fair damosels, all maidens, that serve him evermore at his
meat, and for to lie by him o' night, and for to do with them that
is to his pleasance. And when he is at table, they bring him his
meat at every time, five and five together; and in bringing their
service they sing a song. And after that, they cut his meat, and
put it in his mouth; for he toucheth nothing, ne handleth nought,
but holdeth evermore his hands before him upon the table. For he
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