| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: But if you do not spare him I think that his spirit, working as spirits
can do, will kill you to-morrow. Therefore the question is, will you
live a while or will you die at once, taking me with you as your
companion? For you must not leave me behind, brother Bangu.'
"Now Bangu turned and walked away, stepping over the body of my mother,
and all his people walked away after him, so that presently Zikali the
Wise and Little and I were left alone.
"'What! have they gone?' said Zikali, lifting up his eyes from the
ground. 'Then we had better be going also, Son of Matiwane, lest he
should change his mind and come back. Live on, Son of Matiwane, that
you may avenge Matiwane.'"
Child of Storm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: even against orders to the contrary, they found protection for
the sake of the help they could give as cooks, servants, or
teamsters, the information they brought about the movements of
the enemy, or the great service they were able to render as
guides. Practically therefore, at the very start, the war created
a bond of mutual sympathy between the southern negro and the
Union volunteer; and as fast as Union troops advanced and
secession masters fled, a certain number found freedom in Union
camps.
At some points this became a positive embarrassment to Union
commanders. A few days after General Butler took command of the
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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 Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: appear to me mere mischances; that is why my dreadful
position makes yours appear enviable. But this annoys you;
let us change the subject. You were saying, madame" --
"I came to ask you, my friend," said the baroness, "what
will be done with this impostor?"
"Impostor," repeated Villefort; "certainly, madame, you
appear to extenuate some cases, and exaggerate others.
Impostor, indeed! -- M. Andrea Cavalcanti, or rather M.
Benedetto, is nothing more nor less than an assassin!"
"Sir, I do not deny the justice of your correction, but the
more severely you arm yourself against that unfortunate man,
The Count of Monte Cristo |
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 Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: punishment when necessary, with this happy result that in Sparta
modesty and obedience ever go hand in hand, nor is there lack of
either.
[4] = "boyherd."
[5] Cf. Plut. "Lycurg." 17 (Clough, i. 107); Aristot. "Pol." iv. 15,
13; vii. 17, 5.
[6] Or, "assemble the boys in flocks."
[7] {mastigophoroi} = "flagellants."
Instead of softening their feet with shoe or sandal, his rule was to
make them hardy through going barefoot.[8] This habit, if practised,
would, as he believed, enable them to scale heights more easily and
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