| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tales and Fantasies by Robert Louis Stevenson: ground the last glimmer failed them, and it became necessary
to kindle a match and re-illumine one of the lanterns of the
gig. Thus, under the dripping trees, and environed by huge
and moving shadows, they reached the scene of their
unhallowed labours.
They were both experienced in such affairs, and powerful with
the spade; and they had scarce been twenty minutes at their
task before they were rewarded by a dull rattle on the coffin
lid. At the same moment Macfarlane, having hurt his hand
upon a stone, flung it carelessly above his head. The grave,
in which they now stood almost to the shoulders, was close to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: me that I did not do my work, and do it well. The bellows which I worked
by main strength was, after I left, moved by a steam-engine.
Douglass, Frederick. "Reconstruction."
Atlantic Monthly 18 (1866): 761-765.
RECONSTRUCTION
The assembling of the Second Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress
may very properly be made the occasion of a few earnest words
on the already much-worn topic of reconstruction.
Seldom has any legislative body been the subject of a solicitude
more intense, or of aspirations more sincere and ardent.
There are the best of reasons for this profound interest.
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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 King James Bible: families, by the house of their fathers, those that were numbered of
them, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male
from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
NUM 1:23 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Simeon,
were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred.
NUM 1:24 Of the children of Gad, by their generations, after their
families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the
names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth
to war;
NUM 1:25 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad,
were forty and five thousand six hundred and fifty.
King James Bible |
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 Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: quaternary period. My uncle Liedenbrock, along with the great body of
the geologists, had maintained his ground, disputed, and argued,
until M. Elie de Beaumont stood almost alone in his opinion.
We knew all these details, but we were not aware that since our
departure the question had advanced to farther stages. Other similar
maxillaries, though belonging to individuals of various types and
different nations, were found in the loose grey soil of certain
grottoes in France, Switzerland, and Belgium, as well as weapons,
tools, earthen utensils, bones of children and adults. The existence
therefore of man in the quaternary period seemed to become daily more
certain.
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
