| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: proach in the saying is for the man who refuses to
give up his earnings to the ostrich-tip industry.
"Big Jim" Dougherty was troubled. There was
a being at his side whom be did not know. He
thought of the sober-hued plumage that this bird of
paradise was accustomed to wear in her cage, and
this winged revelation puzzled him. In some way she
reminded him of the Delia Cullen that be had married
four years before. Shyly and rather awkwardly he
stalked at her right band.
"After dinner I'll take you back home, Dele," said
The Voice of the City |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.: ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro
is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds
himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to
dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check.
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words
of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they
were signing a promissory note to which every American was to
fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be
guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.
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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 The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: fluttered eagerly about her head, alighted on her shoulders, and
seemed to claim her as an old acquaintance. She, on her part, was
evidently as glad to see these little birds, old Winter's
grandchildren, as they were to see her, and welcomed them by
holding out both her hands. Hereupon, they each and all tried to
alight on her two palms and ten small fingers and thumbs,
crowding one another off, with an immense fluttering of their
tiny wings. One dear little bird nestled tenderly in her bosom;
another put its bill to her lips. They were as joyous, all the
while, and seemed as much in their element, as you may have seen
them when sporting with a snow-storm.
The Snow Image |
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 Adieu by Honore de Balzac: rank it was impossible to tell.
"We are done for!" he said.
"I know it," said the grenadier, "but I don't care."
"Well, death for death, wouldn't you rather sell your life for a
pretty woman, and take your chances of seeing France?"
"I'd rather sleep," said a man, rolling over on the snow, "and if you
trouble me again, I'll stick my bayonet into your stomach."
"What is the business, my colonel?" said the grenadier. "That man is
drunk; he's a Parisian; he likes his ease."
"That is yours, my brave grenadier," cried the major, offering him a
string of diamonds, "if you will follow me and fight like a madman.
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