| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: fourteen, awaited them on the hill below the church, forming
themselves into files on either side of the road. These imps had
been instructed to stick out their tongues in derision, and howl,
as the carriage passed between them. At the entrance of the long
main street of Kinesma, they were obliged to pass under a mock
triumphal arch, hung with dead dogs and drowned cats; and from this
point the reception assumed an outrageous character. Howls,
hootings, and hisses were heard on all sides; bouquets of nettles
and vile weeds were flung to them; even wreaths of spoiled fish
dropped from the windows. The women were the most eager and
uproarious in this carnival of insult: they beat their saucepans,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: in casting of weights and of spears on a levelled place, as
heretofore, in their insolence. But when it was now the
hour for supper, and the flocks came home from the fields
all around, and the men led them whose custom it was, then
Medon, who of all the henchmen was most to their mind, and
was ever with them at the feast, spake to them, saying:
'Noble youths, now that ye have had sport to your hearts'
content, get you into the house, that we may make ready a
feast; for truly it is no bad thing to take meat in
season.'
Even so he spake, and they rose up and departed, and were
The Odyssey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: other missiles, drove us off, and forbade us to meet
again. Thus ended our little Sabbath school in the
pious town of St. Michael's.
I have said my master found religious sanction
for his cruelty. As an example, I will state one of
many facts going to prove the charge. I have seen
him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with
a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing
the warm red blood to drip; and, in justification
of the bloody deed, he would quote this passage of
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
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 On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well.
Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt.
They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs.
Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens.
Others--as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers,
and office-holders--serve the state chiefly with their heads;
and, as the rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as
likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God.
A very few--as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the
great sense, and men--serve the state with their consciences
also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |
