| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: their natural end.
I found the little packages on the kitchen table. There was
a quaint West Indian basket which I knew its owner had valued, and
which I had once admired; there was an affecting provision laid
beside it for my seafaring supper, with a neatly tied bunch of
southernwood and a twig of bay, and a little old leather box which
held the coral pin that Nathan Todd brought home to give to poor
Joanna.
There was still an hour to wait, and I went up the hill just
above the schoolhouse and sat there thinking of things, and looking
off to sea, and watching for the boat to come in sight. I could
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: To describe his patriotism[1] point by point in detail were a tedious
story, since, as I suppose, there is not one of his several
achievements but must finally resolve itself into that. For, to put it
briefly, we all know well that where Agesilaus expected in any way to
benefit his country there was no toil he shrank from, no danger he
avoided, no money he stinted, no excuse whether of age or body he
admitted, but deemed it ever the true function of a good king[2] to
shower blessings to the utmost on the subjects of his rule.
[1] Lit. "love for his own city."
[2] Or, "regarded it as the cardinal virtue of a real prince." See
"Mem." III. ii. 3.
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