| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: whole empire was aroused to indignation, and even in our
Christian schools, every essay, oration, dialogue or debate was a
discussion of some phase of the subject, "How to reform and
strengthen China." The students all thought, the young reformers
all thought, and the foreigners all thought that Kuang Hsu had
struck the right track. The great Chinese officials, however,
were in doubt, and it was because of their doubt--progressives as
well as conservatives--that the Empress Dowager was again called
to the throne.
Now may I request the enemies of the Empress Dowager to ask
themselves what they would have done if they had been placed at
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The White Moll by Frank L. Packard: this candle to light the garret, since the lamp was empty, she could
fairly count on her identity not being questioned.
She blew out the candle, left it on the washstand, because, if she
could help it, she did not want to risk having it lighted near the
bed or door, and, tiptoeing now, went to the door, unlocked it, then
threw herself down upon the bed.
Possibly a minute went by, possibly two, and then there was a quick
step on the ladder-like stairs, the door handle was rattled violently,
and the door was flung open and slammed shut again.
Rhoda Gray sat upright on the bed. It was her wits now, her wits
against Rough Rorke's; nothing else could save her. She could not
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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 The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: backs of the charcoal-burners.
"Sing them home," said Mowgli, with a grin; I do not wish them
to be at the village gates till it is dark. Can ye hold them?"
Gray Brother bared his white teeth in contempt. We can head them
round and round in circles like tethered goats--if I know Man."
"That I do not need. Sing to them a little, lest they be lonely
on the road, and, Gray Brother, the song need not be of the
sweetest. Go with them, Bagheera, and help make that song.
When night is shut down, meet me by the village--Gray Brother
knows the place."
"It is no light hunting to work for a Man-cub. When shall I
The Second Jungle Book |
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 My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: and, in certain contingencies, _kill_ him, with perfect impunity.
The slave is a human being, divested of all rights--reduced to
the level of a brute--a mere "chattel" in the eye of the law--
placed beyond the circle of human brotherhood--cut off from his
kind--his name, which the "recording angel" may have enrolled in
heaven, among the blest, is impiously inserted in a _master's
ledger_, with horses, sheep, and swine. In law, the slave has no
wife, no children, no country, and no home. He can own nothing,
possess nothing, acquire nothing, but what must belong to
another. To <338>eat the fruit of his own toil, to clothe his
person with the work of his own hands, is considered stealing.
My Bondage and My Freedom |
