| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: found at the mill he was to guard the prisoners and take care of them till
Dick could send officers to relieve him. Thereupon we cooked a meal, and I
was put to feeding Herky and his companions. Dick ordered me especially to
make them drink water, as it might be a day or longer before Hiram could
get back. I made Bill drink, and easily filled up Herky; but Bud, who never
drank anything save whiskey, gave me a job. He refused with a growl, and I
insisted with what I felt sure was Christian patience. Still he would not
drink, so I put the cup to his lips and tipped it. Bud promptly spat the
water all over me. And I as promptly got another cupful and dashed it all
over him.
"Bud, you'll drink or I'll drown you," I declared.
The Young Forester |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: manage their own affairs in their own way, and the speed with
which they are making for all sorts of desirable goals. This he
called a statement or purview of American politics.
I went almost directly afterward to a saloon where gentlemen
interested in ward politics nightly congregate. They were not
pretty persons. Some of them were bloated, and they all swore
cheerfully till the heavy gold watch-chains on their fat stomachs
rose and fell again; but they talked over their liquor as men who
had power and unquestioned access to places of trust and profit.
The magazine writer discussed theories of government; these men
the practice. They had been there. They knew all about it.
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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 The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: salary, who reads with satisfaction that a congress
of lawyers has passed a resolution in favor of
capital punishment. Their political enemy, N. P.,
reads a liberal paper, and cannot understand the
blindness of the government in allowing the union
of Russian men to exist.
Here is a kind, gentle mother of a little girl
reading a story to her about Fox, a dog that
lamed some rabbits. And here is this little girl.
During her walks she sees other children, bare-
footed, hungry, hunting for green apples that have
The Forged Coupon |
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 Othello by William Shakespeare: thee this: Desdemona, is directly in loue with him
Rod. With him? Why, 'tis not possible
Iago. Lay thy finger thus: and let thy soule be instructed.
Marke me with what violence she first lou'd
the Moore, but for bragging, and telling her fantasticall
lies. To loue him still for prating, let not thy discreet
heart thinke it. Her eye must be fed. And what delight
shall she haue to looke on the diuell? When the Blood
is made dull with the Act of Sport, there should be a
game to enflame it, and to giue Satiety a fresh appetite.
Louelinesse in fauour, simpathy in yeares, Manners,
Othello |
