| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: against men in such a place as this doesn't seem fair or grateful,
and you know there are good masters and good grooms beside ours,
though of course ours are the best."
This wise speech of good little Merrylegs, which we knew was quite true,
cooled us all down, especially Sir Oliver, who was dearly fond of his master;
and to turn the subject I said, "Can any one tell me the use of blinkers?"
"No!" said Sir Oliver shortly, "because they are no use."
"They are supposed," said Justice, the roan cob, in his calm way,
"to prevent horses from shying and starting, and getting so frightened
as to cause accidents."
"Then what is the reason they do not put them on riding horses;
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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 Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: At length the day came when the poor son's mourning began. Already he
had felt the mysterious correspondences between his emotions and the
movements of the ocean. The divining of the thoughts of matter, a
power with which his occult knowledge had invested him, made this
phenomenon more eloquent to him than to all others. During the fatal
night when he was taken to see his mother for the last time, the ocean
was agitated by movements that to him were full of meaning. The
heaving waters seemed to show that the sea was working intestinally;
the swelling waves rolled in and spent themselves with lugubrious
noises like the howling of a dog in distress. Unconsciously, Etienne
found himself saying:--
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