| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: the fires were not started by his orders. Be that as it may, they
broke out in various places, while a mob, crazed with excitement,
and wild with the alcohol that had run freely in the gutters the
night before, rushed from store to store, breaking in the doors,
and indulging in all the wantonness of pillage and greed. Public
spirit seemed paralyzed; no real effort was made to put out the
flames, and as a final horror, the convicts from the
penitentiary, overpowering their guards, appeared upon the
streets, a maddened, shouting, leaping crowd, drunk with liberty.
It is quite possible that the very size and suddenness of the
disaster served in a measure to lessen its evil effects; for the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll: He muttered "Goodness gracious!"
And so went on to criticise -
"Your room's an inconvenient size:
It's neither snug nor spacious.
"That narrow window, I expect,
Serves but to let the dusk in - "
"But please," said I, "to recollect
'Twas fashioned by an architect
Who pinned his faith on Ruskin!"
"I don't care who he was, Sir, or
On whom he pinned his faith!
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: he's your friend, Jimmy -- here goes!"
THE MEMENTO
Miss Lynnette D'Armande turned her
back on Broadway. This was but tit for tat, be-
cause Broadway had often done the same thing to
Miss D'Armande. Still, the "tats" seemed to have
it, for the ex-leading lady of the "Reaping the
Whirlwind" company had everything to ask of
Broadway, while there was no vice-versa.
So Miss Lynnette D'Armande turned the back of
her chair to her window that overlooked Broadway,
The Voice of the City |
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 Charmides by Plato: you not make him believe that you know a cure for the headache?
Why not, I said; but will he come?
He will be sure to come, he replied.
He came as he was bidden, and sat down between Critias and me. Great
amusement was occasioned by every one pushing with might and main at his
neighbour in order to make a place for him next to themselves, until at the
two ends of the row one had to get up and the other was rolled over
sideways. Now I, my friend, was beginning to feel awkward; my former bold
belief in my powers of conversing with him had vanished. And when Critias
told him that I was the person who had the cure, he looked at me in such an
indescribable manner, and was just going to ask a question. And at that
|
