| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland: he is the son of your mother's elder brother. In China the
word you used for cousin would express the exact idea.
The child begins his study of language by learning all these
relationships.
These are for the most part taught them by the nurse,
who is an important element in the Chinese home and a
useful adjunct to the child. Each little girl in the homes of
the better classes has her own particular nurse, who teaches
her nursery songs in her childhood, is her companion during
her youth, goes with her to her husband's home, when she
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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 Dreams by Olive Schreiner: And she opened it. And against her breast was a tiny thing, who drank from
it, and the yellow curls above his forehead pressed against it; and his
knees were drawn up to her, and he held her breast fast with his hands.
And Reason said, "Who is he, and what is he doing here?"
And she said, "See his little wings--"
And Reason said, "Put him down."
And she said, "He is asleep, and he is drinking! I will carry him to the
Land of Freedom. He has been a child so long, so long, I have carried him.
In the Land of Freedom he will be a man. We will walk together there, and
his great white wings will overshadow me. He has lisped one word only to
me in the desert--'Passion!' I have dreamed he might learn to say
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