| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: all difficulties in the way were overcome, and Zephyr and Galette
were conducted down the crater, where they were installed in a large
hole and provided with forage, which was still abundant.
Birds, subsisting only on scraps thrown out to them did not cease
to follow the population in its migration, and so numerous did they
become that multitudes of them had repeatedly to be destroyed.
The general re-arrangement of the new residence was no easy business,
and occupied so much time that the end of January arrived before
they could be said to be fairly settled. And then began a life
of dreary monotony. Then seemed to creep over everyone a kind
of moral torpor as well as physical lassitude, which Servadac,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: hatched--why, you would find out, I believe, a story about the
river Amazon itself, more wonderful than all the fairy tales you
ever read.
Now there is luncheon ready. Come down below, and don't tumble
down the companion-stairs; and by the time you have eaten your
dinner we shall be very near the shore.
* * *
So? Here is my little man on deck, after a good night's rest.
And he has not been the least sick, I hear.
Not a bit: but the cabin was so stuffy and hot, I asked leave to
come on deck. What a huge steamer! But I do not like it as well
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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 Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy: beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from
our present course. . .both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons,
both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing
to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of Mankind's
final war.
So let us begin anew. . .remembering on both sides that civility
is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.
Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring
those problems which divide us. Let both sides, for the first time,
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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 A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain: About Nicodemus's usual bedtime--midnight--the village
jokers came creeping stealthily through the jimpson
weeds and sunflowers toward the lonely frame den.
They reached the window and peeped in. There sat the
long-legged pauper, on his bed, in a very short shirt,
and nothing more; he was dangling his legs contentedly
back and forth, and wheezing the music of "Camptown Races"
out of a paper-overlaid comb which he was pressing
against his mouth; by him lay a new jewsharp, a new top,
and solid india-rubber ball, a handful of painted marbles,
five pounds of "store" candy, and a well-gnawed slab of
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