| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: decision, imagining that they would have a bloodless victory, and
even boasting that they would take Washington for their capital;
or, if the new President should thwart them and make them fight,
that they would capture Philadelphia and dictate the peace they
wanted from Independence Hall.
By the time Mr. Lincoln came into office the conspiracy had grown
beyond control by any means then in the hands of a President,
though men on both sides still vainly hoped that the troubles of
the country might be settled without fighting. Mr. Lincoln
especially wished to make very sure that if it ever came to a
matter of war, the fault should not lie with the North.
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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 Ursula by Honore de Balzac: goddaughter, to whose excessive pride and ambition Massin, Cremiere,
the post master, and their wives attributed this extravagant folly of
the old man.
"A caleche! Hey, Massin!" cried Goupil. "Your inheritance will go at
top speed now!"
"You ought to be getting good wages, Cabirolle," said the post master
to the son of one of his conductors, who stood by the horses; "for it
is to be supposed an old man of eighty-four won't use up many horse-
shoes. What did those horses cost?"
"Four thousand francs. The caleche, though second-hand, was two
thousand; but it's a fine one, the wheels are patent."
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