| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lin McLean by Owen Wister: drifted about to all places night and day, till his money was mostly
gone, and nothing to show for it but a somewhat pleasure-beaten face and
a deep hatred of the crowded, scrambling East. So he suddenly bought a
ticket for Green River, Wyoming, and escaped from the city that seemed to
numb his good humor.
When, after three days, the Missouri lay behind him and his holiday, he
stretched his legs and took heart to see out of the window the signs of
approaching desolation. And when on the fourth day civilization was
utterly emptied out of the world, he saw a bunch of cattle, and,
galloping among them, his spurred and booted kindred. And his manner took
on that alertness a horse shows on turning into the home road. As the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: hunger endured and love trampled under foot, fortunes risked, lost,
and recovered, life endangered time and time again, and saved, it may
be, by one of the rapid, ruthless decisions absolved by necessity. He
had known Admiral Simeuse, M. de Lally, M. de Kergarouet, M.
d'Estaing, le Bailli de Suffren, M. de Portenduere, Lord Cornwallis,
Lord Hastings, Tippoo Sahib's father, Tippoo Sahib himself. The bully
who served Mahadaji Sindhia, King of Delhi, and did so much to found
the power of the Mahrattas, had had dealings with Gobseck. Long
residence at St. Thomas brought him in contact with Victor Hughes and
other notorious pirates. In his quest of fortune he had left no stone
unturned; witness an attempt to discover the treasure of that tribe of
Gobseck |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Before Adam by Jack London: I often wonder about this line of descent. I, the
modern, am incontestably a man; yet I, Big-Tooth, the
primitive, am not a man. Somewhere, and by straight
line of descent, these two parties to my dual
personality were connected. Were the Folk, before
their destruction, in the process of becoming men? And
did I and mine carry through this process? On the other
hand, may not some descendant of mine have gone in to
the Fire People and become one of them? I do not know.
There is no way of learning. One thing only is
certain, and that is that Big-Tooth did stamp into the
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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 Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: five hundred and sixty thousand francs, for which I send you
herewith a check, which can only be paid to you in person by the
Mongenods, who have been duly advised from New York.
A few short months, and I shall see you all again, and all well, I
trust. My dear Dumay, if I write this letter to you it is because
I am anxious to keep my fortune a secret for the present. I
therefore leave to you the happiness of preparing my dear angels
for my return. I have had enough of commerce; and I am resolved to
leave Havre. My intention is to buy back the estate of La Bastie,
and to entail it, so as to establish an estate yielding at least a
hundred thousand francs a year, and then to ask the king to grant
Modeste Mignon |
