| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: preached. The grand secret of its power is, that each of its
principles is easily rendered appreciable to the faculty of
reason in man, and that the most unenlightened conscience has no
difficulty in deciding on which side to register its testimony.
It can call its preachers from among the fishermen, and raise
them to power. In every human breast, it has an advocate which
can be silent only when the heart is dead. It comes home to
every man's understanding, and appeals directly to every man's
conscience. A man that does not recognize and approve for
himself the rights and privileges contended for, in behalf of the
American slave, has not yet been found. In whatever else men may
My Bondage and My Freedom |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: several arm-chairs, a table, and writing-materials.
"Begin the /proces verbal/," said Monsieur de Montresor, motioning to
the table the second personage, who was dressed in black, and was
evidently a clerk. Then the provost went up to Christophe, and said to
him in a very gentle way: "My friend, the chancellor, having learned
that you refuse to answer me in a satisfactory manner, decrees that
you be put to the question, ordinary and extraordinary."
"Is he in good health, and can he bear it?" said the clerk to the
doctor.
"Yes," replied the latter, who was one of the physicians of the house
of Lorraine.
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