| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: reverence for the hero of that ride, he sat silent. Alfred honored courage in
a man more than any other quality. He marvelled at the simplicity of these
bordermen who, he thought, took the most wonderful adventures and daring
escapes as a matter of course, a compulsory part of their daily lives. He had
already, in one day, had more excitement than had ever befallen him, an. was
beginning to believe his thirst for a free life of stirring action would be
quenched long before he had learned to become useful in his new sphere. During
the remaining half hour of his call on his lately acquired friends, he took
little part in the conversation, but sat quietly watching the changeful
expressions on Betty's face, and listening to Colonel Zane's jokes. When he
rose to go he bade his host good-night, and expressed a wish that Isaac, who
Betty Zane |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: The prisoners made no reply to this speech, and, after the two Ki-Ki had
given them another mild look from their gentle blue eyes, these officials
clapped their twin hands together and the doors of gold flew open.
A perfect silence greeted them, during which the double Ki and the
double Ki-Ki bent their four bodies low and advanced into the
throne-room, followed by Prince Marvel and Nerle.
In the center of the room stood two thrones of dainty filigree work in
solid gold, and over them were canopies of yellow velvet, the folds of
which were caught up and draped with bands of green ribbon. And on
the thrones were seated two of the sweetest and fairest little maidens
that mortal man had ever beheld. Their lovely hair was fine as a
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Travels with a Donkey in the Cevenne by Robert Louis Stevenson: was left for dead, and only succoured and brought back to life by
the charity of a pariah. We must suppose the pariah devoid of
second-sight, and not purposely malicious in this act. Such an
experience, it might be thought, would have cured a man of the
desire to persecute; but the human spirit is a thing strangely put
together; and, having been a Christian martyr, Du Chayla became a
Christian persecutor. The Work of the Propagation of the Faith
went roundly forward in his hands. His house in Pont de Montvert
served him as a prison. There he closed the hands of his prisoners
upon live coal, and plucked out the hairs of their beards, to
convince them that they were deceived in their opinions. And yet
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: the still more peculiar notions of the caste, will be as remote
as it is possible to conceive from the simple and general
opinions of men.
Having reached this extreme point of the argument, I now
return. When ranks are commingled and privileges abolished, the
men of whom a nation is composed being once more equal and alike,
their interests and wants become identical, and all the peculiar
notions which each caste styled honor successively disappear: the
notion of honor no longer proceeds from any other source than the
wants peculiar to the nation at large, and it denotes the
individual character of that nation to the world. Lastly, if it
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