| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: it room. By chance as it whirled by me, one of the leather
curtains flapped back, and I saw for a second by the waning
light--the nearer wheels were no more than two feet from my boot
--a face inside.
A face and no more, and that only for a second. But it froze me.
It was Richelieu's, the Cardinal's; but not as I had been wont to
see it--keen, cold, acute, with intellect and indomitable will in
every feature. This face was contorted with the rage of
impatience, was grim with the fever of haste, and the fear of
death. The eyes burned under the pale brow, the moustache
bristled, the teeth showed through the beard; I could fancy the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: But some people tell us that if the applicant will only address
himself to the senate or the People with a fee in his hand he will do
a good stroke of business. And for my part I am free to confess to
these gainsayers that a good many things may be done at Athens by dint
of money; and I will add, that a good many more still might be done,
if the money flowed still more freely and from more pockets. One
thing, however, I know full well, that as to transacting with every
one of these applicants all he wants, the state could not do it, not
even if all the gold and silver in the world were the inducement
offered.
Here are some of the cases which have to be decided on. Some one fails
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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 The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: horses stolen the very day before, but Harrison's record says:
"I laughed at our fate, and he joked at it, and we all started of
merrily. The generous men of our company walked and rode by turns
with us, and we fared about equal with the rest. But for this
generosity, our legs would have had to do the better work, for in
that day this dreary route furnished no horses to buy or to
steal, and whether on horse or afoot, we always had company, for
many of the horses' backs were too sore for riding."
Lincoln reached New Salem about the first of August, only ten
days before the election. He had lost nothing in popular esteem
by his prompt enlistment to defend the frontier, and his friends
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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 An International Episode by Henry James: "I know nothing about it, and neither do you," said his kinsman, who, like a
clever man, had begun to perceive that the observation of American society
demanded a readjustment of one's standard.
"Hang it, then let's find out!" cried Lord Lambeth with some impatience.
"You know I don't want to miss anything."
"We will find out," said Percy Beaumont very reasonably.
"We will go and see Mrs. Westgate and make all proper inquiries."
And so the two inquiring Englishmen, who had this lady's
address inscribed in her husband's hand upon a card,
descended from the veranda of the big hotel and took their way,
according to direction, along a large straight road, past a
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