| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: a crow, fell far below his shoulders; matted and tangled as it was, still it
hung to his waist, and had it been combed out, must have reached his knees.
One long moment Wingenund stood facing his foe, and then over the multitude
and through the valley rolled his sonorous voice:
"Deathwind dies at dawn!"
The hunter was tied to a tree and left in view of the Indian populace. The
children ran fearfully by; the braves gazed long at the great foe of their
race; the warriors passed in gloomy silence. The savages' tricks of torture,
all their diabolical ingenuity of inflicting pain was suppressed, awaiting the
hour of sunrise when this hated Long Knife was to die.
Only one person offered an insult to the prisoner; he was a man of his own
The Spirit of the Border |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: Which I'd have broken.
But Lady Ashton was mistaken in the agent she had selected. His
prejudices, indeed, were easily enlisted on her side, and it was
no difficult matter to make him regard with horror the prospect
of a union betwixt the daughter of a God-fearing, professing, and
Presbyterian family of distinction and the heir of a bloodthirsty
prelatist and persecutor, the hands of whose fathers had been
dyed to the wrists in the blood of God's saints. This resembled,
in the divine's opinion, the union of a Moabitish stranger with a
daughter of Zion. But with all the more severe prejudices and
principles of his sect, Bide-the-Bent possessed a sound judgment,
The Bride of Lammermoor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: provinces. They all took sides with the abbe against the old maid.
"Don't you see, my dear friend," said Madame de Listomere, "that the
Abbe Troubert wants your apartment?"
Here the historian ought to sketch this lady; but it occurs to him
that even those who are ignorant of Sterne's system of "cognomology,"
cannot pronounce the three words "Madame de Listomere" without
picturing her to themselves as noble and dignified, softening the
sternness of rigid devotion by the gracious elegance and the courteous
manners of the old monarchical regime; kind, but a little stiff;
slightly nasal in voice; allowing herself the perusal of "La Nouvelle
Heloise"; and still wearing her own hair.
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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 Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry: our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make
a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.
The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a
country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy
can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone.
There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will
raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the
strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir,
we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late
to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery!
Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!
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