The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: But the lady held still faster to Bessie Bell's hand.
``Oh,'' said Sister Helen Vincula, ``I have a thought! Come to our
cabin with me.''
So they went.
And Bessie Bell walked between Sister Helen Vincula and the lady.
And they each held one of her little pink hands.
When they were at the cabin Sister Helen Vincula opened the old
trunk with the brass tacks on it, and she went down to the very
bottom of it, unpacking as she went. For the old trunk was almost
entirely packed for the going away to-morrow. Then Sister Helen
Vincula took out, from almost the bottom of the trunk, the little
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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: the same general description. Hence many slaves could escape
by personating the owner of one set of papers; and this was often done
as follows: A slave, nearly or sufficiently answering the description
set forth in the papers, would borrow or hire them till by means of them
he could escape to a free State, and then, by mail or otherwise,
would return them to the owner. The operation was a hazardous one for
the lender as well as for the borrower. A failure on the part of
the fugitive to send back the papers would imperil his benefactor,
and the discovery of the papers in possession of the wrong man
would imperil both the fugitive and his friend. It was, therefore,
an act of supreme trust on the part of a freeman of color thus to
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