| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: then wrote a letter to Eugenius; - then I took it up again, and
embroiled my patience with it afresh; - and then to cure that, I
wrote a letter to Eliza. - Still it kept hold of me; and the
difficulty of understanding it increased but the desire.
I got my dinner; and after I had enlightened my mind with a bottle
of Burgundy; I at it again, - and, after two or three hours poring
upon it, with almost as deep attention as ever Gruter or Jacob Spon
did upon a nonsensical inscription, I thought I made sense of it;
but to make sure of it, the best way, I imagined, was to turn it
into English, and see how it would look then; - so I went on
leisurely, as a trifling man does, sometimes writing a sentence, -
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: the wheels of the apparition, which left behind it no such ruts as
are usually made by heavy vehicles. At most there was a light touch,
a mere brushing of the dust. It was only the tremendous speed which
raised behind the vehicle such whirlwinds of dust.
"It is probable," commented the New Fork Herald, "that the extreme
rapidity of motion destroys the weight."
Naturally there were protests from all sides. It was impossible to
permit the mad speed of this apparition which threatened to overthrow
and destroy everything in its passage, equipages and people. But how
could it be stopped? No one knew to whom the vehicle belonged, nor
whence it came, nor whither it went. It was seen but for an instant
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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 Travels and Researches in South Africa by Dr. David Livingstone: formerly alight@mercury.interpath.net). To assure a high quality text,
the original was typed in (manually) twice and electronically compared.
[Note on text: Italicized words or phrases are CAPITALIZED.
Some obvious errors have been corrected.]
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa.
Also called, Travels and Researches in South Africa;
or, Journeys and Researches in South Africa.
By David Livingstone [British (Scot) Missionary and Explorer--1813-1873.]
David Livingstone was born in Scotland, received his medical degree
from the University of Glasgow, and was sent to South Africa
by the London Missionary Society. Circumstances led him to try to meet
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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 Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: anyway--a bunch of gullible greenhorn fools?"
"And besides," continued an engineer, "how do these pictures
get into the air in the first place? Where do they come from?"
"They're sent from a satellite in the sky," the traveler
said, as all heads looked up. "You can't see it, of course.
It's too high. But it's there."
"And of course you expect us to believe in something we can't
see," said one of the scientists, with a touch of scorn.
"Believe it because of its effects--the results--the
evidence of its existence," the traveler said. "If it weren't
there, you would see no pictures."
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