| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: without a shudder. 'I never dreamed I should come to actually
covet such society,' he thought. And then a brilliant idea struck
him. Waterloo Station, a public place, yet at certain hours of
the day a solitary; a place, besides, the very name of which must
knock upon the heart of Pitman, and at once suggest a knowledge
of the latest of his guilty secrets. Morris took a piece of paper
and sketched his advertisement.
WILLIAM BENT PITMAN, if this should meet the eye of, he will hear
of SOMETHING TO HIS ADVANTAGE on the far end of the main line
departure platform, Waterloo Station, 2 to 4 P.M., Sunday next.
Morris reperused this literary trifle with approbation. 'Terse,'
|
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 Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: flattering vote Lincoln had received at the recent election, and
the confidence New Salem felt in his personal character, alone
made these transactions possible, since not a dollar of actual
money changed hands during all this shifting of ownership. In the
long run the people's faith in him was fully justified; but
meantime he suffered years of worry and harassing debt. Berry
proved a worthless partner; the business a sorry failure. Seeing
this, Lincoln and Berry sold out, again on credit, to the Trent
brothers, who soon broke up the store and ran away. Berry also
departed and died; and in the end all the notes came back upon
Lincoln for payment. Of course he had not the money to meet these
|