| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare: Triumph in love; flesh stays no farther reason,
But rising at thy name doth point out thee,
As his triumphant prize. Proud of this pride,
He is contented thy poor drudge to be,
To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.
No want of conscience hold it that I call
Her 'love,' for whose dear love I rise and fall.
CLII
In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn,
But thou art twice forsworn, to me love swearing;
In act thy bed-vow broke, and new faith torn,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: by every one on the plantation, the "Great House." This was
occupied by Col. Lloyd and his family. They occupied it; _I_
enjoyed it. The great house was surrounded by numerous and
variously shaped out-buildings. There were kitchens, wash-
houses, dairies, summer-house, green-houses, hen-houses, turkey-
houses, pigeon-houses, and arbors, of many sizes and devices, all
neatly painted, and altogether interspersed with grand old trees,
ornamental and primitive, which afforded delightful shade in
<52>summer, and imparted to the scene a high degree of stately
beauty. The great house itself was a large, white, wooden
building, with wings on three sides of it. In front, a large
My Bondage and My Freedom |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: abating. Calm he always was, except when that unnatural lust for Indians'
blood overcame him.
On the summit of a high ridge he looked around to ascertain his bearings. He
was surprised to find he had traveled in a circle. A mile or so below him
arose the great oak tree which he recognized as the landmark of Beautiful
Spring. He found himself standing on the hill, under the very dead tree to
which he had directed Girty's attention a few hours previous.
With the idea that he would return to the spring to scalp the dead Indians, he
went directly toward the big oak tree. Once out of the forest a wide plain lay
between him and the wooded knoll which marked the glade of Beautiful Spring.
He crossed this stretch of verdant meadow-land, and entered the copse.
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: at an All-Russian Conference of the Communist Party. A
workman, Sapronov, turned suddenly aside in a speech on
quite another matter, and said with great violence that the
present system was in danger of running to seed and turning
into oligarchy, if not autocracy. Until the moment when he
put his listeners against him by a personal attack on Lenin,
there was no doubt that he had with him the sympathies of
quite a considerable section of an exclusively Communist
audience.
Given peace, given an approximate return to normal
conditions, non-partyism may well profoundly modify the
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