| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: such intense conviction and such a ringing tone, that the boatman
started as at a trumpet call.
The stranger was standing in a prophetic attitude and gazing
southwards into the blue, pointing to his native home across the skyey
regions. The ascetic pallor of his face had given place to a glow of
triumph, his eyes flashed, he was as grand as a lion shaking his mane.
"But you, poor child," he went on, looking at Godefroid, whose cheeks
were beaded with glittering tears, "have you, like me, studied life
from blood-stained pages? What can you have to weep for, at your age?"
"Alas!" said Godefroid, "I regret a land more beautiful than any land
on earth--a land I never saw and yet remember. Oh, if I could but
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: pleased to see you, and so will my daughters."
Mr. Johnson expressed his gratitude for the prof-
fered hospitality, and said he should feel glad to
call on his return. I have not the slightest doubt
that he will fulfil the promise whenever that return
takes place. After changing trains we went on a
little beyond Fredericksburg, and took a steamer
to Washington.
At Richmond, a stout elderly lady, whose whole
demeanour indicated that she belonged (as Mrs.
Stowe's Aunt Chloe expresses it) to one of the
 Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |