| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: morning is--at least I have always found it so--an excellent time for
searching questions; and to-day I had waked up no longer beneath the
strong, gentle spell of the churchyard. A bright sun was shining over the
eastern waters of the town, I could see from my upper veranda the
thousand flashes of the waves; the steam yacht rode placidly and
competently among them, while a coastwise steamer was sailing by her, out
to sea, to Savannah, or New York; the general world was going on, and--
which of them was idealizing? It mightn't be so bad, after all. Hadn't I,
perhaps, over-sentimentalized to myself the case of John Mayrant? Hadn't
I imagined for him ever so much more anxiety than the boy actually felt?
For people can idealize down just as readily as they can idealize up. Of
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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 Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: George Washington, among the number. Nor did they want
visitors. An old gentleman, of singular stolidity, and
called Breedlove - I think he had crossed the plains in the
same caravan with Rufe - housed with them for awhile during
our stay; and they had besides a permanent lodger, in the
form of Mrs. Hanson's brother, Irvine Lovelands. I spell
Irvine by guess; for I could get no information on the
subject, just as I could never find out, in spite of many
inquiries, whether or not Rufe was a contraction for Rufus.
They were all cheerfully at sea about their names in that
generation. And this is surely the more notable where the
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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 Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: mixture.
Thus, by an application of the theory of permutations and
combinations, you have your choice among four ways of accomplishing
a driving-tour. First, you may engage a carriage and pair, with a
driver, from one of the tourist agencies, and roll through your
journey in sedentary case, provided your horses do not go lame or
give out. Second, you may rely altogether upon the posting-stations
to send you on your journey; and this is a very pleasant, lively
way, provided there is not a crowd of travellers on the road before
you, who take up all the comfortable conveyances and leave you
nothing but a jolting cart or a ramshackle KARIOL of the time of St.
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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 Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: have been so earnest and persevering in any pursuit other than for my
daily bread. I certainly saw nothing in the conduct of those around
to inspire me with such interest: they were all devoted exclusively
to what their hands found to do. I am glad to be able to say that,
during my engagement in this foundry, no complaint was ever made against
me that I did not do my work, and do it well. The bellows which I worked
by main strength was, after I left, moved by a steam-engine.
Douglass, Frederick. "Reconstruction."
Atlantic Monthly 18 (1866): 761-765.
RECONSTRUCTION
The assembling of the Second Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress
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