| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: . . Lady Grey told me she was dining with the Queen once in one of
these tremendous fogs, and that many of the guests did not arrive
till dinner was half through, which was horrible at a royal dinner;
but the elements care little for royalty.
November 14th
On Saturday we dined at the Duc de Broglie's. He married the
daughter of Madam de Stael, but she is not now living. I was very
agreeably placed with Mr. Macaulay on one side of me, so that I
found it more pleasant than diplomatic dinners usually. At the
English tables we meet people who know each other well, and have a
common culture and tastes and habits of familiarity, and a fund 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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: how lovely she looks in them. But what I was going to tell you was that
Grandma Luty's visit was all a joy to Tattine, and so when, just at daylight
one morning, the setter puppies in their kennel at the back of the house
commenced a prodigious barking, Tattine's first thought was for Grandma.
"It's a perfect shame to have them wake her up," she said to herself, "and I
know a way to stop them," so, quiet as a mouse, she stole out of bed, slipped
into her bed-slippers and her nurse's wrapper, that was lying across a chair,
and then just as noiselessly stole downstairs, and unlocking the door leading
to the back porch, hurried to open the gate of the kennel, for simply to let
the puppies run she knew would stop their barking. Tattine was right about
that, but just as she swung the gate open, a happy thought struck those four
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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 Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: the black steed, and the goblin rider, passed by like a whirlwind.
The next morning the old horse was found without his saddle,
and with the bridle under his feet, soberly cropping the grass at
his master's gate. Ichabod did not make his appearance at
breakfast; dinner-hour came, but no Ichabod. The boys assembled
at the schoolhouse, and strolled idly about the banks of the
brook; but no schoolmaster. Hans Van Ripper now began to feel
some uneasiness about the fate of poor Ichabod, and his saddle.
An inquiry was set on foot, and after diligent investigation they
came upon his traces. In one part of the road leading to the
church was found the saddle trampled in the dirt; the tracks of
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
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 The Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: declared [truly] ordained and stay ordained [and that such
ordination must not be changed], as St. Jerome writes of the
Church at Alexandria, that at first it was governed in common
by priests and preachers, without bishops.
XI. Of the Marriage of Priests.
To prohibit marriage, and to burden the divine order of
priests with perpetual celibacy, they have had neither
authority nor right [they have done out of malice, without any
honest reason], but have acted like antichristian, tyrannical,
desperate scoundrels [have performed the work of antichrist,
of tyrants and the worst knaves], and have thereby caused all
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