| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: the best schools the city afforded. She meant to show
her Knight a thing or two in this line when the time
came. His wife would not be an ignorant slattern, the
victim of incompetent servants. No servant could fool
her. She would know the business of the house down to
its minutest detail.
Not that she loved dish-washing and pot-polishing
and scrubbing. It was simply a part of the Game of
Life she must play in the ideal home she would build.
There was no drudgery in it for this reason. She was a
soldier on the drill grounds preparing for the battle
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: on the bureau, which was covered with a napkin like an altar, stood
the box of shells that Victor had given her; also a watering-can and a
balloon, writing-books, the engraved geography and a pair of shoes; on
the nail which held the mirror, hung Virginia's little plush hat!
Felicite carried this sort of respect so far that she even kept one of
Monsieur's old coats. All the things which Madame Aubain discarded,
Felicite begged for her own room. Thus, she had artificial flowers on
the edge of the bureau, and the picture of the Comte d'Artois in the
recess of the window. By means of a board, Loulou was set on a portion
of the chimney which advanced into the room. Every morning when she
awoke, she saw him in the dim light of dawn and recalled bygone days
A Simple Soul |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: with his good wishes, to the reader.
At length, Edinburgh, with her satellite hills and
all the sloping country, are sheeted up in white. If it
has happened in the dark hours, nurses pluck their
children out of bed and run with them to some commanding
window, whence they may see the change that has been
worked upon earth's face. 'A' the hills are covered wi'
snaw,' they sing, 'and Winter's noo come fairly!' And
the children, marvelling at the silence and the white
landscape, find a spell appropriate to the season in the
words. The reverberation of the snow increases the pale
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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 An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: fifteen francs apiece - picture it - fifteen francs!
'POUR UN TOUT PETIT OISEAU - For quite a little bird,' added the
husband.
As I continued to admire, the apologetics died away, and the good
people began to brag of their barge, and their happy condition in
life, as if they had been Emperor and Empress of the Indies. It
was, in the Scots phrase, a good hearing, and put me in good humour
with the world. If people knew what an inspiriting thing it is to
hear a man boasting, so long as he boasts of what he really has, I
believe they would do it more freely and with a better grace.
They began to ask about our voyage. You should have seen how they
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