| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: East would rank as macadam roads; horse-trails that
would compare favorably with our best bridle-paths;
foot-trails in the fur country worn by constant use as
smooth as so many garden-walks. Then again there
are other arrangements. I have heard a mule-driver
overwhelmed with skeptical derision because he
claimed to have upset but six times in traversing a
certain bit of trail not over five miles long; in charts
of the mountains are marked many trails which are
only "ways through,"--you will find few traces of
predecessors; the same can be said of trails in the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: sea-bath while pulling Aunt Eliza to and fro in the surf. Nothing
in the life around me stirred me, nothing in nature attracted me.
I liked the fog; somehow it seemed to emanate from me instead of
rolling up from the ocean, and to represent me. Whether I went
alone or not, the coachman was ordered to drive a certain round;
after that I could extend the ride in whatever direction I pleased,
but I always said, "Anywhere, William." One afternoon, which
happened to be a bright one, I was riding on the road which led to
the glen, when I heard the screaming of a flock of geese which were
waddling across the path in front of the horses. I started, for I
was asleep probably, and, looking forward, saw the Uxbridge
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