| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: Apparently, the regiment had its small affair to
itself.
The youth, turning, shot a quick, inquiring
glance at his friend. The latter returned to him
the same manner of look. They were the only
ones who possessed an inner knowledge. "Mule
drivers--hell t' pay--don't believe many will get
back." It was an ironical secret. Still, they saw
no hesitation in each other's faces, and they nod-
ded a mute and unprotesting assent when a shag-
gy man near them said in a meek voice: "We'll
The Red Badge of Courage |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: "With none to envy and none gainsay,
No savour or salt hath my dream or day."
Queen Gulnaar sighed like a murmuring rose:
"Give me a rival, O King Feroz."
II
King Feroz spoke to his Chief Vizier:
"Lo! ere to-morrow's dawn be here,
"Send forth my messengers over the sea,
To seek seven beautiful brides for me;
"Radiant of feature and regal of mien,
Seven handmaids meet for the Persian Queen."
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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 The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: been slaves, had for the first time in this public and political
drama. Associations of negro citizens joined in the procession,
and a battalion of negro soldiers formed part of the military
escort. The central act of the occasion was President Lincoln's
second inaugural address, which enriched the political literature
of the nation with another masterpiece. He said:
"Fellow-countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of
the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended
address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat
in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper.
Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public
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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 The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: its innumerable quiet sounds, had received a severe shock. He sank into the
tall weeds and listened. Then he crawled a little farther. Doubt became
certainty. A single note of an oriole warned him, and it needed not the quick
notes of a catbird to tell him that near at hand, somewhere, was human life.
Once more Wetzel became a tiger. The hot blood leaped from his heart, firing
all his veins and nerves. But calmly noiseless, certain, cold, deadly as a
snake he began the familiar crawling method of stalking his game.
On, on under the briars and thickets, across the hollows full of yellow
leaves, up over stony patches of ground to the fern-covered cliff overhanging
the glade he glided--lithe, sinuous, a tiger in movement and in heart.
He parted the long, graceful ferns and gazed with glittering eyes down into
The Spirit of the Border |
