| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: caused one of them to say to me, "Your massa is
a big bug"--meaning a gentleman of distinction--
"he is the greatest gentleman dat has been dis way
for dis six months." I said, "Yes, he is some
pumpkins," meaning the same as "big bug."
When we left Macon, it was our intention to
take a steamer at Charleston through to Phila-
delphia; but on arriving there we found that the
vessels did not run during the winter, and I have
no doubt it was well for us they did not; for on the
very last voyage the steamer made that we intended
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: fields have been devoted as sites for building. In that which is
nearest the town, wheelbarrows have been at work for several
weeks in such numbers, that, I verily believe, its whole surface,
to the depth of at least eighteen inches, was mounted in these
monotrochs at the same moment, and in the act of being
transported from one place to another. Huge triangular piles of
planks are also reared in different parts of the devoted
messuage; and a little group of trees that still grace the
eastern end, which rises in a gentle ascent, have just received
warning to quit, expressed by a daub of white paint, and are to
give place to a curious grove of chimneys.
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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 Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: unmistakeable pinch, such as I had never imagined possible,
and then went on serenely to the next hallelujah.
For a moment I was petrified with astonishment.
Was this my indulgent father, my playmate, adorer, and friend?
Smarting with pain, for I was a round baby, with a nicely stretched,
tight skin, and dreadfully hurt in my feelings, I opened my mouth
to shriek in earnest, when my father's clear whisper fell on my ear,
each word distinct and not to be misunderstood, his eyes as before
gazing meditatively into space, and his lips hardly moving,
"Elizabeth, wenn <91> du schreist, kneife ich dich bis du platzt."
And he finished the verse with unruffled decorum--
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
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 Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: In the second place, since we know now what Baptism is, and how it is
to be regarded, we must also learn why and for what purpose it is
instituted; that is, what it profits, gives and works. And this also we
cannot discern better than from the words of Christ above quoted: He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Therefore state it most
simply thus, that the power, work, profit, fruit, and end of Baptism is
this, namely, to save. For no one is baptized in order that he may
become a prince, but, as the words declare, that he be saved. But to be
saved. we know. is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death,
and the devil, and to enter into the kingdom of Christ, and to live
with Him forever.
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