| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Unsocial Socialist by George Bernard Shaw: to bed."
"Nonsense! Who would be out on such a night as this? Perhaps the
wind rang it."
They waited for a few moments; Gertrude trembling, and Agatha
feeling, as she listened in the darkness, a sensation familiar to
persons who are afraid of ghosts. Presently a veiled clangor
mingled with the wind. A few sharp and urgent snatches of it came
unmistakably from the bell at the gate of the college grounds. It
was a loud bell, used to summon a servant from the college to
open the gates; for though there was a porter's lodge, it was
uninhabited.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: were equals once when we lay new-born babes on our nurses' knees. We will
be equals again when they tie up our jaws for the last sleep!"
Waldo looked in wonder at the little quivering face; it was a glimpse into
a world of passion and feeling wholly new to him.
"Mark you," she said, "we have always this advantage over you--we can at
any time step into ease and competence, where you must labour patiently for
it. A little weeping, a little wheedling, a little self-degradation, a
little careful use of our advantages, and then some man will say: "Come,
be my wife!" With good looks and youth marriage is easy to attain. There
are men enough; but a woman who has sold herself, even for a ring and a new
name, need hold her skirt aside for no creature in the street. They both
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