| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: pleasure like a child. The sound stirred my sympathies, it was so
fresh and innocent; but as I bettered my pace to draw near, the cry
of the squirrel knocked upon my heart. I have heard and seen much
of the cruelty of lads, and above all of peasants; but what I now
beheld struck me into a passion of anger. I thrust the fellow
aside, plucked the poor brute out of his hands, and with swift
mercy killed it. Then I turned upon the torturer, spoke to him
long out of the heat of my indignation, calling him names at which
he seemed to wither; and at length, pointing toward the residencia,
bade him begone and leave me, for I chose to walk with men, not
with vermin. He fell upon his knees, and, the words coming to him
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: "to the buttery, and see him fed; and then to Sir James Lee, and
have his name entered in the castle books. And stay, sirrah," he
added; "bid me Sir James, if it may be so done, to enter him as a
squire-at-arms. Methinks he will be better serving so than in the
household, for he appeareth a soothly rough cub for a page."
Myles did look rustic enough, standing clad in frieze in the
midst of that gay company, and a murmur of laughter sounded
around, though he was too bewildered to fully understand that he
was the cause of the merriment. Then some hand drew him back--it
was Gascoyne's--there was a bustle of people passing, and the
next minute they were gone, and Myles and old Diccon Bowman and
Men of Iron |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain: see the Ohio come in; then you want to look sharp,
because you're getting near. Away up to your left
you'll see another thread coming in -- that's the
Missouri and is a little above St. Louis. You'll come
down low then, so as you can examine the villages as
you spin along. You'll pass about twenty-five in the
next fifteen minutes, and you'll recognize ours when
you see it -- and if you don't, you can yell down and
ask."
"Ef it's dat easy, Mars Tom, I reckon we kin do
it -- yassir, I knows we kin."
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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 Gambara by Honore de Balzac: perfection of a work of art limits its suggestiveness to the recipient
soul. Is not this proved by the preference accorded to a sketch rather
than a finished picture when on their trial before those who interpret
a work in their own mind rather than accept it rounded off and
complete?
The purest and serenest music that Andrea had ever listened to rose up
from under Gambara's fingers like the vapor of incense from an altar.
The composer's voice grew young again, and, far from marring the noble
melody, it elucidated it, supported it, guided it,--just as the feeble
and quavering voice of an accomplished reader, such as Andrieux, for
instance, can expand the meaning of some great scene by Corneille or
Gambara |
