| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: The words were like a cry for help, frozen on to the ugly paper.
Amster shivered; he had a feeling that this was a matter of life
and death.
The wagon tracks in the lonely street, the broken pieces of glass
and the drops of blood, showing that some occupant of the vehicle
had broken the window, in the hope of escape, perhaps, or to throw
out the package which should bring assistance - all these facts
grouped themselves together in the brain of the intelligent
working-man to form some terrible tragedy where his assistance, if
given at once, might be of great use. He had a warm heart besides,
a heart that reached out to this unknown who was in distress, and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: before her; so sure that, when she entered it herself, without
even pausing to inquire of Trimmle, she made directly for the
library. But the library was still empty, and with an unwonted
precision of visual memory she immediately observed that the
papers on her husband's desk lay precisely as they had lain when
she had gone in to call him to luncheon.
Then of a sudden she was seized by a vague dread of the unknown.
She had closed the door behind her on entering, and as she stood
alone in the long, silent, shadowy room, her dread seemed to take
shape and sound, to be there audibly breathing and lurking among
the shadows. Her short-sighted eyes strained through them, half-
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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 Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: the air, for the speaker was invisible.
All our friends gave a jump, at this. Even
Polychrome was so startled that her gauze
draperies fluttered like a banner in a breeze.
Shaggy shook his head and sighed; Queen Ann looked
very unhappy; the officers clung to each other,
trembling violently.
But soon they gained courage to look more
closely at the Peculiar Person. As he was a type
of all the inhabitants of this extraordinary land
whom they afterward met, I will try to tell you
Tik-Tok of Oz |
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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: remains within the ordinary limits of his functions. But if he
directly attacks a general principle without having a particular
case in view, he leaves the circle in which all nations have
agreed to confine his authority, he assumes a more important, and
perhaps a more useful, influence than that of the magistrate, but
he ceases to be a representative of the judicial power.
The third characteristic of the judicial power is its
inability to act unless it is appealed to, or until it has taken
cognizance of an affair. This characteristic is less general than
the other two; but, notwithstanding the exceptions, I think it
may be regarded as essential. The judicial power is by its
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