| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: In the autumn of that year Lincoln was asked to speak in Ohio,
where Douglas was again referring to him by name. In December he
was invited to address meetings in various towns in Kansas, and
early in 1860 he made a speech in New York that raised him
suddenly and unquestionably to the position of a national leader.
It was delivered in the hall of Cooper Institute, on the evening
of February 27, 1860, before an audience of men and women
remarkable for their culture, wealth and influence.
Mr. Lincoln's name and words had filled so large a space in the
Eastern newspapers of late, that his listeners were very eager to
see. and hear this rising Western politician. The West, even at
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: humble pension to the high walls of palaces, how could we help but fall?
Late one afternoon the Frau Doktor came upon me in the writing-room and
took me to her bosom.
"She has been telling me all about her life," whispered the Frau Doktor.
"She came to my bedroom and offered to massage my arm. You know, I am the
greatest martyr to rheumatism. And, fancy now, she has already had six
proposals of marriage. Such beautiful offers that I assure you I wept--and
every one of noble birth. My dear, the most beautiful was in the wood.
Not that I do not think a proposal should take place in a drawing-room--it
is more fitting to have four walls--but this was a private wood. He said,
the young officer, she was like a young tree whose branches had never been
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