| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.: extra (C) Copyright notice as was then required in the US. The
US revised this law in 1989, an no longer requires such notice.
#STARTMARK#
I have a Dream
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington
D.C. on August 28, 1963
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow
we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous
decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro
slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: wife came to Edinburgh, you were already nearly one year old, and
you had not yet been three months in their care. The secret has
been well kept; but such is the fact. Your father is unknown, and
I say again that I believe him to be the original of the offers I
am charged at present to transmit to you."
It would be impossible to exaggerate the astonishment of Francis
Scrymgeour at this unexpected information. He pled this confusion
to the lawyer.
"Sir," said he, "after a piece of news so startling, you must grant
me some hours for thought. You shall know this evening what
conclusion I have reached."
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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 Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: every relation and grade of society. It is a high calling, to which
a man must first be born, and then devote himself for life. And,
unhappily, the manners of a certain so-called upper grade have a kind
of currency, and meet with a certain external acceptation throughout
all the others, and this tends to keep us well satisfied with slight
acquirements and the amateurish accomplishments of a clique. But
manners, like art, should be human and central.
Some of my fellow-passengers, as I now moved among them in a relation
of equality, seemed to me excellent gentlemen. They were not rough,
nor hasty, nor disputatious; debated pleasantly, differed kindly;
were helpful, gentle, patient, and placid. The type of manners was
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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: ag'in mebbe it's because I'm gettin' old an' likes young folks better'n I onct
did. Anyway, I'm kinder thinkin, if this young feller gits worked out, say fer
about twenty pounds less, he'll lick a whole raft-load of wild-cats."
Joe walked to and fro on the logs, ascertained how the raft was put together,
and took a pull on the long, clumsy steering-oar. At length he seated himself
beside Lynn. He was eager to ask questions; to know about the rafts, the
river, the forest, the Indians--everything in connection with this wild life;
but already he had learned that questioning these frontiersmen is a sure means
of closing their lips.
"Ever handle the long rifle?" asked Lynn, after a silence.
"Yes," answered Joe, simply.
The Spirit of the Border |
