| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: blessing which tied up my father's tongue, and a misfortune which let it
loose with a good grace, were pretty equal: sometimes, indeed, the
misfortune was the better of the two; for instance, where the pleasure of
the harangue was as ten, and the pain of the misfortune but as five--my
father gained half in half, and consequently was as well again off, as if
it had never befallen him.
This clue will unravel what otherwise would seem very inconsistent in my
father's domestic character; and it is this, that, in the provocations
arising from the neglects and blunders of servants, or other mishaps
unavoidable in a family, his anger, or rather the duration of it, eternally
ran counter to all conjecture.
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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 Mountains by Stewart Edward White: yell shrill Chinese yells; and to dance in celestial
delight when the terrified animal arose and scattered
out of there. But one day the range men drove up
a little bunch of full-grown cattle that had been
bought from a smaller owner. It was necessary to
change the brands. Therefore a little fire was built,
the stamp-brand put in to heat, and two of the men
on horseback caught a cow by the horns and one
hind leg, and promptly upset her. The old brand
was obliterated, the new one burnt in. This irritated
the cow. Promptly the branding-men, who were of
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