| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: He was hooted down with jeers and laughter, and immediately the
attack commenced.
The yells of the attackers mingled with the sound of the
axe-blows and the report of revolvers from inside the building.
Among those nearest to the door being battered down were Denver
and the few men he had with him. His plan offered merely a
forlorn hope. It was that in the first scramble to get in after
the way was opened he and his friends might push up the stairs in
the van, and hold the corridor for as long as they could against
the furious mob.
It took less than a quarter of an hour to batter down the door,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: English fleet was worsted; and the brave Montague, Earl of
Sandwich, Admiral under the Duke of York, lost his life. The ship
ROYAL PRINCE, carrying one hundred guns, in which he was, and which
was under him, commanded by Sir Edward Spragg, was burnt, and
several other ships lost, and about six hundred seamen; part of
those killed in the fight were, as I was told, brought on shore
here and buried in the churchyard of this town, as others also were
at Ipswich.
At this town in particular, and so at all the towns on this coast,
from Orfordness to Yarmouth, is the ordinary place where our summer
friends the swallows first land when they come to visit us; and
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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 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: the porter pulled the rope, the gate opened, and they went out.
"How well everything is going!" said Fauchelevent; "what a capital
idea that was of yours, Father Madeleine!"
They passed the Vaugirard barrier in the simplest manner in the world.
In the neighborhood of the cemetery, a shovel and pick are equal
to two passports.
The Rue Vaugirard was deserted.
"Father Madeleine," said Fauchelevent as they went along,
and raising his eyes to the houses, "Your eyes are better than mine.
Show me No. 87."
"Here it is," said Jean Valjean.
Les Miserables |
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 The Human Drift by Jack London: the helpless cadaver. As from the beginning, so to the end,
everything had gone wrong with the Bricklayer. Finally, the
captain's son, irritated beyond measure, jerked the book from the
palsied fingers of the old man and found the place. Again the
quavering voice of the captain arose. Then came the cue: "And
the body shall be cast into the sea." We elevated one end of the
hatch-cover, and the Bricklayer plunged outboard and was gone.
Back into the forecastle we cleaned house, washing out the dead
man's bunk and removing every vestige of him. By sea law and sea
custom, we should have gathered his effects together and turned
them over to the captain, who, later, would have held an auction
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