| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: up the last of these intruders; and the pair proceeded on
their way alone in the grateful quiet of the morning.
Presently they came in sight of a bench, standing very open
on a mound of turf. The young lady looked about her with
relief.
'Here,' she said, 'here at last we are secure from listeners.
Here, then, you shall learn and judge my history. I could
not bear that we should part, and that you should still
suppose your kindness squandered upon one who was unworthy.'
Thereupon she sat down upon the bench, and motioning
Challoner to take a place immediately beside her, began in
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: town.
Vitellozzo, Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina on mules, accompanied by a
few horsemen, went towards the duke; Vitellozo, unarmed and wearing a
cape lined with green, appeared very dejected, as if conscious of his
approaching death--a circumstance which, in view of the ability of the
man and his former fortune, caused some amazement. And it is said that
when he parted from his men before setting out for Sinigalia to meet
the duke he acted as if it were his last parting from them. He
recommended his house and its fortunes to his captains, and advised
his nephews that it was not the fortune of their house, but the
virtues of their fathers that should be kept in mind. These three,
The Prince |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: were slaves. _Color_, therefore, was a very unsatisfactory basis
for slavery.
Once, however, engaged in the inquiry, I was not very long in
finding out the true solution of the matter. It was not _color_,
but _crime_, not _God_, but _man_, that afforded the true
explanation of the existence of slavery; nor was I long in
finding out another important truth, viz: what man can make, man
can unmake. The appalling darkness faded away, and I was master
of the subject. There were slaves here, direct from Guinea; and
there were many who could say that their fathers and mothers were
stolen from Africa--forced from their homes, and compelled to
My Bondage and My Freedom |
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 Case of the Golden Bullet by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: he had carefully hidden in his own pocket before rejoining the
others.
Horn turned to the servant again. "How many times have you been
out of the apartment since last night?"
"Once only, sir, to go to the police station to fetch you."
"And you locked the door behind you?"
"Why, yes, sir. You saw that I had to turn the key twice to let
you in."
Horn and Muller both looked the young man over very carefully. He
seemed perfectly innocent, and their suspicion that he might have
turned the key in pretense only, soon vanished. It would have been
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