| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: without being yourselves the aggressors. You can have no oath registered
in heaven to destroy the Government; while I shall have the most solemn
one to preserve, protect and defend it." This changed nothing in the
slave states. It was not enough for them that slavery could keep on where
it was. To spread it where it was not, had been their aim for a very long
while. The next day, March 5th, Lincoln had letters from Fort Sumter, in
Charleston harbor. Major Anderson was besieged there by the batteries of
secession, was being starved out, might hold on a month longer, needed
help. Through staggering complications and embarrassments, which were
presently to be outstaggered by worse ones, Lincoln by the end of March
saw his path clear. "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: doing, to vanish like a soap bubble, and be never more seen of
his fellows; and so accustomed were the latter to such little
accidents that they went on with their business as quietly as if
nothing had happened. But it was otherwise with me.
Finally, after a pretty long residence at the Fair, I resumed my
journey towards the Celestial City, still with Mr. Smooth-it-away
at my side. At a short distance beyond the suburbs of Vanity we
passed the ancient silver mine, of which Demas was the first
discoverer, and which is now wrought to great advantage,
supplying nearly all the coined currency of the world. A little
further onward was the spot where Lot's wife had stood forever
Mosses From An Old Manse |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: Mosambique, where we were to stay some time. When we came near that
coast, and began to rejoice at the prospect of ease and refreshment,
we were on the sudden alarmed with the sight of a squadron of ships,
of what nation we could not at first distinguish, but soon
discovered that they were three English and three Dutch, and were
preparing to attack us. I shall not trouble the reader with the
particulars of this fight, in which, though the English commander
ran himself aground, we lost three of our ships, and with great
difficulty escaped with the rest into the port of Mosambique.
This place was able to afford us little consolation in our uneasy
circumstances; the arrival of our company almost caused a scarcity
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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 Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: "I want to see it. Give it me, that I may see it is not
false.
"There it is."
The child put the piece of money into his pocket.
"And now, where is he gone?" inquired D'Artagnan.
"He is gone to Noisy."
"How dost thou know?"
"Ah, faith! there was no great cunning necessary. I knew the
horse he rode; it belonged to the butcher, who lets it out
now and then to M. Bazin. Now I thought that the butcher
would not let his horse out like that without knowing where
Twenty Years After |
