| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: hardly restrain a gasp of surprise. It was the woman with the
pitted face.
She stood somewhat awkwardly just inside the door, and she had an
air of self-confidence that was inspiring. Yes, she could cook;
was not a fancy cook, but could make good soups and desserts if
there was any one to take charge of the salads. And so, in
the end, I took her. As Halsey said, when we told him, it didn't
matter much about the cook's face, if it was clean.
I have spoken of Halsey's restlessness. On that day it seemed to
be more than ever a resistless impulse that kept him out until
after luncheon. I think he hoped constantly that he might meet
The Circular Staircase |
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: injustice of slavery had been stamped upon his soul. The
uprightness of his mind abhorred a system that kept men in
bondage merely because they happened to be black. The intensity
of his feeling on the subject had made him a Whig when, as a
friendless boy, he lived in a town where Whig ideas were much in
disfavor. The same feeling, growing stronger as he grew older,
had inspired the Lincoln-Stone protest and the bill to free the
slaves in the District of Columbia, and had caused him to vote at
least forty times against slavery in one form or another during
his short term in Congress. The repeal of the Missouri
Compromise, throwing open once more to slavery a vast amount of
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