| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: he saw me escaping and held his peace.
The last point of imminent danger, and the one I dreaded most,
was Wilmington. Here we left the train and took the steam-boat
for Philadelphia. In making the change here I again apprehended arrest,
but no one disturbed me, and I was soon on the broad and beautiful Delaware,
speeding away to the Quaker City. On reaching Philadelphia in the afternoon,
I inquired of a colored man how I could get on to New York. He directed me
to the William-street depot, and thither I went, taking the train that night.
I reached New York Tuesday morning, having completed the journey in less
than twenty-four hours.
My free life began on the third of September, 1838. On the morning
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: restrain a jealous twinge, and she felt annoyed to find herself comparing that
face with her own. She looked no longer at that portrait, but recommenced her
survey of the room. Upon the door hung a broad-brimmed hat with eagle plumes
stuck in the band. A pair of hightopped riding-boots, a saddle, and a bridle
lay on the floor in the corner. The table was covered with Indian pipes,
tobacco pouches, spurs, silk stocks, and other articles.
Suddenly Betty felt that some one was watching her. She turned timidly toward
the bed and became much frightened when she encountered the intense gaze from
a pair of steel-blue eyes. She almost fell from the chair; but presently she
recollected that Alfred had been unconscious for days, and that he would not
know who was watching by his bedside.
Betty Zane |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: her, a patient, gentle little child. And as the thought came to her
mind, the flower raised its drooping head, and, looking up into the
earnest little face bent over it, seemed by its fragrant breath to
answer Annie's silent thought, and strengthen her for what might come.
Meanwhile the forest was astir, birds sang their gay good-morrows
from tree to tree, while leaf and flower turned to greet the sun,
who rose up smiling on the world; and so beneath the forest boughs
and through the dewy fields went little Annie home, better and wiser
for her dream.
Autumn flowers were dead and gone, yellow leaves lay rustling on the
ground, bleak winds went whistling through the naked trees, and cold,
Flower Fables |
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 Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: then it was that a little, wiry, gray man leaped agilely
from the kitchen doorway, and with drawn sword took
his place beside the boy. It was now two against
three and the three may have guessed, though they
never knew, that they were pitted against the two
greatest swordsmen in the world.
"To the death," cried the little gray man, "a mort,
mon fils." Scarcely had the words left his lips ere, as
though it had but waited permission, the boy's sword
flashed into the heart of Paul of Merely, and a Saxon
gentleman was gathered to his fathers.
The Outlaw of Torn |
