| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: and I crawled, dusty and tired, from its interior, to find myself
face to face with Anscombe, who was smoking a pipe upon the
stoep!
"Hullo, Quatermain," he said in his pleasant, drawling voice,
"here you are, up to time. I have been making bets with these
five gentlemen," and he nodded at a group of loungers on the
stoep," as to whether you would or would not appear, I putting
ten to one on you in drinks. Therefore you must now consume five
whiskies and sodas, which will save them from consuming fifty and
a subsequent appearance at the Police Court."
I laughed and said I would be their debtor to the extent of one,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Pass now the ev'ning sponge across the slate;
And to that spirit of forgiveness keep
Which is the parent and the child of sleep.
SO LIVE, SO LOVE, SO USE THAT FRAGILE HOUR
SO live, so love, so use that fragile hour,
That when the dark hand of the shining power
Shall one from other, wife or husband, take,
The poor survivor may not weep and wake.
AD SE IPSUM
DEAR sir, good-morrow! Five years back,
When you first girded for this arduous track,
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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 The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: not slept for a long time. The creator of the Shore of Refuge,
the weary Ruler of the Settlement, with his scorn of the unrest
and folly of men, was angry with his white friend who was always
bringing his desires and his troubles to his very door. Belarab
did not want any one to die but neither did he want any one in
particular to live. What he was concerned about was to preserve
the mystery and the power of his melancholy hesitations. These
delicate things were menaced by Lingard's brusque movements, by
that passionate white man who believed in more than one God and
always seemed to doubt the power of Destiny. Belarab was
profoundly annoyed. He was also genuinely concerned, for he liked
The Rescue |
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 Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: his sick soul throb itself out in the sunshine. But to-night he
panted for life. The savage strength of his nature was roused;
his cry was fierce to God for justice.
"Look at me!" he said to Deborah, with a low, bitter laugh,
striking his puny chest savagely. "What am I worth, Deb? Is it
my fault that I am no better? My fault? My fault?"
He stopped, stung with a sudden remorse, seeing her hunchback
shape writhing with sobs. For Deborah was crying thankless
tears, according to the fashion of women.
"God forgi' me, woman! Things go harder Wi' you nor me. It's
a worse share."
Life in the Iron-Mills |
