| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: reason or foresight.
Which of the men of 1789 would have ventured to desire or predict
the death of Louis XVI., the wars of La Vendee, the Terror, the
permanent guillotine and the final anarchy, or the ensuing return
to tradition and order, guided by the iron hand of a soldier?
In the development of events which ensued from the early actions
of the revolutionary Assemblies the most striking, perhaps, was
the rise and development of the government of the crowd--of mob
rule.
Behind the facts which we have been considering--the taking of
the Bastille, the invasion of Versailles, the massacres of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: south country where my mission lay. It had taken root in my
memory, so that I had come to look upon its bare rounded head,
with the guide-post and the four roads, as the first outpost of
Paris, as the first sign of return to the old life.
Now for two days I had been looking forward to seeing it again,
That long stretch of road would do admirably for something I had
in my mind. That sign-post, with the roads pointing north,
south, east, and west--could there be a better place for meetings
and partings?
We came to the bottom of the ascent about an hour before noon, M.
de Cocheforet, Mademoiselle, and I. We had reversed the order of
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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 My Antonia by Willa Cather: Now it ain't so bad; I can begin to have some fun with my boys, already!'
As we walked toward the house, Cuzak cocked his hat jauntily over one
ear and looked up at the moon. `Gee!' he said in a hushed voice,
as if he had just wakened up, `it don't seem like I am away from
there twenty-six year!'
III
AFTER DINNER THE NEXT day I said good-bye and drove
back to Hastings to take the train for Black Hawk.
Antonia and her children gathered round my buggy before I started,
and even the little ones looked up at me with friendly faces.
Leo and Ambrosch ran ahead to open the lane gate.
My Antonia |
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 The Reef by Edith Wharton: we can't fail to pull it off for him!' I've told Owen that,
so you're pledged and there's no going back."
The day before yesterday! Was it possible that, no longer
ago, life had seemed a sufficiently simple business for a
sane man to hazard such assurances?
"Anna," he questioned her abruptly, "why are you so anxious
for this marriage?"
She stopped short to face him. "Why? But surely I've
explained to you--or rather I've hardly had to, you seemed
so in sympathy with my reasons!"
"I didn't know, then, who it was that Owen wanted to marry."
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