| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: they would have been living beings to me; but here, where there were so
many people about me, I wanted some one to belong to me. I was lonely. I
wanted something that was flesh and blood. Once on this farm there came a
stranger; I did not ask his name, but he sat among the karoo and talked
with me. Now, wherever I have travelled I have looked for him--in hotels,
in streets, in passenger wagons as they rushed in, through the open windows
of houses I have looked for him, but I have not found him--never heard a
voice like his. One day I went to the Botanic Gardens. It was a half-
holiday, and the band was to play. I stood in the long raised avenue and
looked down. There were many flowers, and ladies and children were walking
about beautifully dressed. At last the music began. I had not heard such
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: but was at length decided in favour of the girl,
by the Supreme Court declaring that "she was
free and white, and therefore unlawfully held in
bondage."
The Rev. George Bourne, of Virginia, in his
Picture of Slavery, published in 1834, relates the
case of a white boy who, at the age of seven, was
stolen from his home in Ohio, tanned and stained
in such a way that he could not be distinguished
from a person of colour, and then sold as a slave
in Virginia. At the age of twenty, he made his
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Hero of Our Time by M.Y. Lermontov: moment's silence. "I never reveal my secrets
myself, but I am exceedingly fond of their being
guessed, because in that way I can always disavow
them upon occasion. However, you must describe
both mother and daughter to me. What sort of
people are they?"
"In the first place, Princess Ligovski is a
woman of forty-five," answered Werner. "She
has a splendid digestion, but her blood is out of
order -- there are red spots on her cheeks. She
has spent the latter half of her life in Moscow,
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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 Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: CHAPTER XX
THE NOTES AND A BARGAIN
I went back slowly to where the woman sat alone.
She smiled rather oddly as I drew near, and pointed to the chair
Bronson had vacated.
"Sit down, Mr. Blakeley," she said, "I am going to take a few
minutes of your valuable time."
"Certainly." I sat down opposite her and glanced at a cuckoo clock
on the wall. "I am sorry, but I have only a few minutes. If you - "
She laughed a little, not very pleasantly, and opening a small black
fan covered with spangles, waved it slowly.
The Man in Lower Ten |
