| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: of the principal partners of the Northwest Company, announcing
the coming of the Phoebe and Isaac Todd, "to take and destroy
everything American on the northwest coast."
This intelligence was received without dismay by such of the
clerks as were natives of the United States. They had felt
indignant at seeing their national flag struck by a Canadian
commander, and the British flag flowed, as it were, in their
faces. They had been stung to the quick, also, by the vaunting
airs assumed by the Northwesters. In this mood of mind, they
would willingly have nailed their colors to the staff , and
defied the frigate. She could not come within many miles of the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: tinged with gray, and a sort of dusty complexion. His face was
full of little curved wrinkles, as if it were a slate just
ruled for sums in long division, and his small blue eyes winked
anxiously a dozen different ways, as if they were doing the
sums. He seemed to bristle with memorandum-books, and kept
drawing them from every pocket, to put something down. He was
slow of speech, and his very heaviness of look added to the
impression of reserved power about the man.
All his career in life had been a solid progress, and his
boldest speculations seemed securer than the legitimate
business of less potent financiers. Beginning business life by
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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 Common Sense by Thomas Paine: APPENDIX
Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet,
or rather, on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech
made its appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed
the birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth,
at a more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time.
The bloody mindedness of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing
the doctrine of the other. Men read by way of revenge.
And the Speech, instead of terrifying, prepared a way
for the manly principles of Independance.
Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they
Common Sense |
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 Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: his fingers and fell to the ground. They digged where it fell,
and this time it was a chest of gold money they found.
Yes, a chest of gold money! A chest of real gold money! They just
stood and stared and stared, for if they had not seen it they
would not have believed that such a thing could have been in the
world. "Well, Jacob Stuck," said John, "it was well to travel a
bit farther than poor Joseph did, was it not? What is a chest of
silver money to such a treasure as this? Come, brother, here is
enough to make us both rich for all the rest of our lives. We
need look for nothing better than this."
But no; by-and-by Jacob Stuck began to cool down again, and now
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