| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: disappeared from the earth that the remembrance of their very
names is effaced; their languages are lost; their glory is
vanished like a sound without an echo; though perhaps there is
not one which has not left behind it some tomb in memory of its
passage! The most durable monument of human labor is that which
recalls the wretchedness and nothingness of man.
Although the vast country which we have been describing was
inhabited by many indigenous tribes, it may justly be said at the
time of its discovery by Europeans to have formed one great
desert. The Indians occupied without possessing it. It is by
agricultural labor that man appropriates the soil, and the early
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: thick foliage, but the long ground-swell still boomed against the
breakwaters and showed white teeth, far to the south.
As chickens creep from under shelter after a rain, so the people
of Mandeville crept out again on the piers, on the bath-houses,
on the breakwater edge, and watched eagerly for the boats.
Slowly upon the horizon appeared white sails, and the little
craft swung into sight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, counted Mandeville. Every one coming in! Bravo!
And a great cheer that swept the whole length of the town from
the post-office to Black Bayou went up. Bravo! Every boat was
coming in. But--was every man?
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: shed tears when they have gained a victory?" I must learn if
it be so, and must judge of that for myself," said the
marquise. "Who can tell whether that heart, so coveted, is
not common in its impulses, and full of alloy? Who can tell
if that mind, when the touchstone is applied to it, will not
be found of a mean and vulgar character? Come, come," she
said, "this is doubting and hesitating too much -- to the
proof." She looked at the timepiece. "It is now seven
o'clock," she said; "he must have arrived, it is the hour
for signing his papers." With a feverish impatience she rose
and walked towards the mirror, in which she smiled with a
Ten Years Later |
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 Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: The odor of the peaceful pines was in the men's
nostrils. The sound of monotonous axe blows
rang through the forest, and the insects, nodding
upon their perches, crooned like old women.
The youth returned to his theory of a blue dem-
onstration.
One gray dawn, however, he was kicked in
the leg by the tall soldier, and then, before he
was entirely awake, he found himself running
down a wood road in the midst of men who were
panting from the first effects of speed. His can-
The Red Badge of Courage |
