| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: his courage, his justice, his even temper, his humanity, he stood
a heroic figure in the centre of a heroic epoch."
What but a lifetime's schooling in disappointment, what but the
pioneer's self-reliance and freedom from prejudice, what but the
clear mind, quick to see natural right and unswerving in its
purpose to follow it; what but the steady self-control, the
unwarped sympathy, the unbounded charity of this man with spirit
so humble and soul so great, could have carried him through the
labors he wrought to the victory he attained?
With truth it could be written, "His heart was as great as the
world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: own logic particularly, for it is generally wrong. We never know
where we are to end, if once we begin following words or doctors.
There is an upright stock in a man's own heart, that is trustier
than any syllogism; and the eyes, and the sympathies and appetites,
know a thing or two that have never yet been stated in controversy.
Reasons are as plentiful as blackberries; and, like fisticuffs,
they serve impartially with all sides. Doctrines do not stand or
fall by their proofs, and are only logical in so far as they are
cleverly put. An able controversialist no more than an able
general demonstrates the justice of his cause. But France is all
gone wandering after one or two big words; it will take some time
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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 Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: carnation that overtopped all the rest. "How in the
world did you get in here?"
The striped nurse (I hadn't noticed her before) rose
from some corner and came swiftly over to my bedside,
taking my wrist between her fingers.
"I'm very well, thank you," she said, smiling, "and
I came in at the door, of course."
"I wasn't talking to you," I snapped, crossly, "I was
speaking to the carnations; particularly to that elderly
one at the top--the fat one who keeps bowing and wagging
his head at me."
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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 Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling: them. Father had fought in the great Pict War that lasted
more than twenty years, and he knew what fighting
meant. Theodosius, one of our great Generals, had
chased the little beasts back far into the North before I
was born. Down at Vectis, of course, we never troubled
our heads about them. But when my Father spoke as he
did, I kissed his hand, and waited for orders. We British-
born Romans know what is due to our parents.'
'If I kissed my Father's hand, he'd laugh,' said Dan.
'Customs change; but if you do not obey your Father,
the Gods remember it. You may be quite sure of that.
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