| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: to header material.
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Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
March 4, 1865
Fellow countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath
of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended
address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat
in detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper.
Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations
have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great
Second Inaugural Address |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: Smithie's brother, about the new girl who had come to the
workroom, about the house we would presently live in. But
there we differed a little. I wanted to be accessible to St.
Paul's or Cannon Street Station, and she had set her mind quite
resolutely upon Eating.... It wasn't by any means quarreling all
the time, you understand. She liked me to play the lover
"nicely"; she liked the effect of going about--we had lunches, we
went to Earl's Court, to Kew, to theatres and concerts, but not
often to concerts, because, though Marion "liked" music, she
didn't like "too much of it," to picture shows--and there was a
nonsensical sort of babytalk I picked up--I forget where
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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 Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: superscription, and I could read the name of Smethurst, and the
designation of 'Canadian Felt Hat Manufacturers.' There was no more
hope of evening fellowship, and I could only stroll on by the river-
side, under the trees. The water was dappled with slanting sunshine,
and dusted all over with a little mist of flying insects. There were
some amorous ducks, also, whose lovemaking reminded me of what I had
seen a little farther down. But the road grew sad, and I grew weary;
and as I was perpetually haunted with the terror of a return of the
tie that had been playing such ruin in my head a week ago, I turned
and went back to the inn, and supper, and my bed.
The next morning, at breakfast, I communicated to the smart waitress
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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 Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: the comparison only superficially acceptable. Still, she did not
judge the state of the shop severely, for Mr. Ramy had told her
that he was alone in the world, and lone men, she was aware, did
not know how to deal with dust. It gave her a good deal of
occupation to wonder why he had never married, or if, on the other
hand, he were a widower, and had lost all his dear little children;
and she scarcely knew which alternative seemed to make him the more
interesting. In either case, his life was assuredly a sad one; and
she passed many hours in speculating on the manner in which he
probably spent his evenings. She knew he lived at the back of his
shop, for she had caught, on entering, a glimpse of a dingy room
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