| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: to three new members about his fatness as though he was in search
of other recipes. And then, quite unexpectedly, his telegram came.
"Mr. Formalyn!" bawled a page-boy under my nose, and I took the telegram
and opened it at once.
"For Heaven's sake come.--Pyecraft."
"H'm," said I, and to tell the truth I was so pleased at the
rehabilitation of my great grandmother's reputation this evidently
promised that I made a most excellent lunch.
I got Pyecraft's address from the hall porter. Pyecraft inhabited the
upper half of a house in Bloomsbury, and I went there so soon as I
had done my coffee and Trappistine. I did not wait to finish my cigar.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: makes us friends with the gods who are above us, and with one another. I
dare say that I too have omitted several things which might be said in
praise of Love, but this was not intentional, and you, Aristophanes, may
now supply the omission or take some other line of commendation; for I
perceive that you are rid of the hiccough.
Yes, said Aristophanes, who followed, the hiccough is gone; not, however,
until I applied the sneezing; and I wonder whether the harmony of the body
has a love of such noises and ticklings, for I no sooner applied the
sneezing than I was cured.
Eryximachus said: Beware, friend Aristophanes, although you are going to
speak, you are making fun of me; and I shall have to watch and see whether
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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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: the apple-trees, other thoughts came into her little black-and-white head, and
there she was stealthily clawing her way up the nearest tree. Tattine stood
aghast, but Patrick's "whisht" kept her still for a moment, while the cat made
its way along one of the branches. Tattine knowing well the particular nest
she was seeking, made one bound for her with her rake, and with such a scream
as certainly to scare little Black-and-white out of at least one of the nine
lives to which she is supposed to be entitled. But pussy was too swift and
swiftly scrambled to the very topmost twig that would hold her weight, while
Tattine danced about in helpless rage on the grass beneath the tree. "Tattine
is having a fit," thought little Black-and-white, scared half to death and
quite ready to have a little fit of her own, to judge from her wild eyes and
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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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: free himself of the suspicion he lay under for his familiarity
with Catiline. Cicero, considering the matter, summoned the
senate at break of day. The letters he brought with him, and
delivered them to those to whom they were directed, commanding
them to read them publicly; they all alike contained an account
of the conspiracy. And when Quintus Arrius, a man of praetorian
dignity, recounted to them, how soldiers were collecting in
companies in Etruria, and Manlius stated to be in motion with a
large force, hovering about those cities, in expectation of
intelligence from Rome, the senate made a decree, to place all
in the hands of the consuls, who should undertake the conduct of
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