| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he
gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due
to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any
departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a
living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope--fervently
do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.
Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by
the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil
shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash
shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said
three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The
Second Inaugural Address |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: an orange in each toe, a box of candy, a toy for old time's sake,
and then the little knickknacks he had been gathering for days and
hiding in his desk. After all, there were no fewer stockings this
year than last. Instead of Jim's there was the tiny one for Nina's
baby. That was the way things went. He took away, but also He gave.
He sat back in his deep chair, and looked up at the stockings,
ludicrously bulging. After all, if he believed that He gave and
took away, then he must believe that Jim was where he had tried to
think him, filling a joyous, active place in some boyish heaven.
After a while he got up and went to his desk, and getting pen and
paper wrote carefully.
The Breaking Point |
