| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris:
"Oh, I'm so glad that's over with," she exclaimed, her little eyes
dancing. "I've pretended to like it, but I've hated it all the
time. You don't know HOW I've hated it! What men can see in it to
make them sit up all night long is beyond me. And you truly mean,
Condy, that you never will gamble again? Yes, I know you mean it
this time. Oh, I'm so happy I could sing!"
"Good Heavens, don't do that!" he cried quickly. "You're a nice,
amiable girl, Blix, even if you're not pretty, and you--"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: of human rights can be of any practical value. To change the character
of the government at this point is neither possible nor desirable.
All that is necessary to be done is to make the government consistent
with itself, and render the rights of the States compatible with the sacred
rights of human nature.
The arm of the Federal government is long, but it is far too short
to protect the rights of individuals in the interior of distant States.
They must have the power to protect themselves, or they will go unprotected,
spite of all the laws the Federal government can put upon the national
statute-book.
Slavery, like all other great systems of wrong, founded in the depths
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith: to appeal from your justice to your humanity. By her father's consent,
I first paid her my addresses, and our passions were first founded in
duty.
MISS NEVILLE. Since his death, I have been obliged to stoop to
dissimulation to avoid oppression. In an hour of levity, I was ready
to give up my fortune to secure my choice. But I am now recovered from
the delusion, and hope from your tenderness what is denied me from a
nearer connexion.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. Pshaw, pshaw! this is all but the whining end of a
modern novel.
HARDCASTLE. Be it what it will, I'm glad they're come back to reclaim
She Stoops to Conquer |
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 Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Counselors, and in front of them stood the two strange beasts who had
called themselves Li-Mon-Eags, but were really the transformations of
Ruggedo the Nome, and Kiki Aru the Hyup.
Then came the beasts--rows and rows and rows of them! The smallest
beasts were nearest the King's rock throne; then there were wolves and
foxes, lynxes and hyenas, and the like; behind them were gathered the
monkey tribes, who were hard to keep in order because they teased the
other animals and were full of mischievous tricks. Back of the
monkeys were the pumas, jaguars, tigers and lions, and their kind;
next the bears, all sizes and colors; after them bisons, wild asses,
zebras and unicorns; farther on the rhinoceri and hippopotami, and at
The Magic of Oz |
