| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde: Very submissive to a cruel Lord,
Very obedient to unjust commands,
As pure I think as any gentle girl
Who now would turn in horror from my hands -
[Stands up.]
You came: ah! Guido, the first kindly words
I ever heard since I had come from France
Were from your lips: well, well, that is no matter.
You came, and in the passion of your eyes
I read love's meaning; everything you said
Touched my dumb soul to music, so I loved you.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: his trusty right-hand man was in some danger of his life.
So cautiously he made his way through the thickets whence
the voices came, and, pushing aside the leaves, peeped into
the little open space where the two men, staff in hand,
were coming slowly together.
"Ha!" quoth Robin to himself, "here is merry sport afoot.
Now I would give three golden angels from my own pocket if yon
stout fellow would give Little John a right sound drubbing!
It would please me to see him well thumped for having failed
in my bidding. I fear me, though, there is but poor chance
of my seeing such a pleasant sight." So saying, he stretched
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: have thought they were giving away gas stoves and hammock couches.
Going home in the street car after the game the girls used to
gaze adoringly at the dirty faces of their sweat-begrimed heroes,
and then they'd rush home, have supper, change their dresses, do
their hair, and rush downtown past the Parker Hotel to mail their
letters. The baseball boys boarded over at the Griggs House, which
is third-class, but they used their tooth-picks, and held the
postmortem of the day's game out in front of the Parker Hotel,
which is our leading hostelry. The postoffice receipts record for
our town was broken during the months of June, July, and August.
Mrs. Freddy Van Dyne started the trouble by having the team
Buttered Side Down |
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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: of clothes, and in deep anxiety about the Baron, who had stayed
behind.
Our colleagues all look bewildered and perplexed beyond measure. . .
. The English aristocracy have no love for Louis Philippe, but much
less for a republic, so near at hand, and everybody seemed perplexed
and uneasy.
Tuesday
On Sunday the Duc de Nemours arrived at the French Embassy, and
Monday the poor Duchess de Montpensier, the innocent cause of all
the trouble. No one knows where the Duchess de Nemours and her
young children are, and the King and Queen are entirely missing. At
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