| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: Four days after this interview the battle of Antietam was fought,
and when, after a few days of uncertainty it was found that it
could be reasonably claimed as a Union victory, the President
resolved to carry out his long-matured purpose. Secretary Chase
in his diary recorded very fully what occurred on that
ever-memorable September 22, 1862. After some playful talk upon
other matters, Mr. Lincoln, taking a graver tone, said:
"Gentlemen: I have, as you are aware, thought a great deal about
the relation of this war to slavery, and you all remember that
several weeks ago I read to you an order I had prepared on this
subject, which, on account of objections made by some of you, was
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Adventure by Jack London: "No, nor a chaperone."
"But you surely don't expect me to go around shooting every
slanderer in the Solomons that opens his mouth?" he demanded
gloomily.
"No, nor that either," she answered with quick impulsiveness.
"I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll get married and put a stop to
it all. There!"
He looked at her in amazement, and would have believed that she was
making fun of him had it not been for the warm blood that suddenly
suffused her cheeks.
"Do you mean that?" he asked unsteadily. "Why?"
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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 Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum: but once, you know, and when the enemy kills me I shall
beg him to kill Bilbil, also, that we may remain
together in death as in life."
"They may be cannibals, in which case they will roast
and eat us," suggested Bilbil, who wished to terrify
his master.
"Who knows?" answered Rinkitink, with a shudder. "But
cheer up, Bilbil; they may not kill us after all, or
even capture us; so let us not borrow trouble. Do not
look so cross, my sprightly quadruped, and I will sing
to amuse you."
Rinkitink In Oz |
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 Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: garret.
"The Ruins of Palmyra are terribly silent!" said Juste.
This taciturnity in a man whose appearance was so imposing was
strangely significant. Sometimes when we met him, we exchanged glances
full of meaning on both sides, but they never led to any advances.
Insensibly this man became the object of our secret admiration, though
we knew no reason for it. Did it lie in his secretly simple habits,
his monastic regularity, his hermit-like frugality, his idiotically
mechanical labor, allowing his mind to remain neuter or to work on his
own lines, seeming to us to hint at an expectation of some stroke of
good luck, or at some foregone conclusion as to his life?
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