| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: deplorable though it might be. The evidence showed that Fletcher had
been provoked; he had been struck, a thing that might well justify the
anger in the heat of which he had done this thing. Grey was stolid and
silent, saying nothing either for or against the man who had divided
with him under the Duke the honours of the supreme command.
Monmouth, white and horror-stricken, sat and listened first to Wilding,
then to Dare, and lastly to Fletcher himself. But it was young Dare -
Dare and his followers, who prevailed. They were too numerous and
turbulent, and they must at all costs be conciliated, or there was no
telling to what extremes they might not go. And so there was an end
to the share of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun in this undertaking - the end
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: of her having been there under these circumstances was known to every
member of the little American circle, and commented accordingly.
Winterbourne reflected that they had of course known it
at the hotel, and that, after Daisy's return, there had been
an exchange of remarks between the porter and the cab driver.
But the young man was conscious, at the same moment, that it had
ceased to be a matter of serious regret to him that the little
American flirt should be "talked about" by low-minded menials.
These people, a day or two later, had serious information to give:
the little American flirt was alarmingly ill. Winterbourne, when the
rumor came to him, immediately went to the hotel for more news.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: three and forty years ago, the place was not entirely free from
race and color prejudice. The good influence of the Roaches,
Rodmans, Arnolds, Grinnells, and Robesons did not pervade all
classes of its people. The test of the real civilization of the
community came when I applied for work at my trade, and then my
repulse was emphatic and decisive. It so happened that Mr. Rodney
French, a wealthy and enterprising citizen, distinguished as an
anti-slavery man, was fitting out a vessel for a whaling voyage,
upon which there was a heavy job of calking and coppering to be
done. I had some skill in both branches, and applied to Mr. French
for work. He, generous man that he was, told me he would employ
|
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 Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: shore easily, effecting an equally easy landing. The beach
was composed largely of small stones worn smooth by the action
of water. There was little sand, though from the deck of the U-33
the beach had appeared to be all sand, and I saw no evidences of
mollusca or crustacea such as are common to all beaches I have
previously seen. I attribute this to the fact of the smallness
of the beach, the enormous depth of surrounding water and the
great distance at which Caprona lies from her nearest neighbor.
As Nobs and I approached the recumbent figure farther up the
beach, I was appraised by my nose that whether or not, the thing
had once been organic and alive, but that for some time it had
The Land that Time Forgot |
