| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: incomplete but craftier man is living; Carrel is dead.
"I may point out that your man has for fifteen years been making his
way, and is but making it still. He may yet be caught and crushed
between two cars full of intrigues on the highroad to power. He has no
house; he has not the favor of the palace like Metternich; nor, like
Villele, the protection of a compact majority.
"I do not believe that the present state of things will last ten
years longer. Hence, supposing I should have such poor good luck,
I am already too late to avoid being swept away by the commotion
I foresee. I should need to be established in a superior
position."
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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 Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: Try to mould the hand of your mistress, and see what you will get,--
ghastly articulations, without the slightest resemblance to her living
hand; you must have recourse to the chisel of a man who, without
servilely copying that hand, can give it movement and life. It is our
mission to seize the mind, soul, countenance of things and beings.
Effects! effects! what are they? the mere accidents of the life, and
not the life itself. A hand,--since I have taken that as an example,--
a hand is not merely a part of the body, it is far more; it expresses
and carries on a thought which we must seize and render. Neither the
painter nor the poet nor the sculptor should separate the effect from
the cause, for they are indissolubly one. The true struggle of art
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Redheaded Outfield by Zane Grey: his business of the day, to pitch.
His work that day reminded me of the first
game he ever pitched for me, upon which occasion
Captain Spears got the best out of him by
making him angry. For several innings Providence
was helpless before his delivery. Then
something happened that showed me a crisis was
near. A wag of a fan yelled from the bleachers.
``Honeymoon Rube!''
This cry was taken up by the delighted fans
and it rolled around the field. But the Rube
The Redheaded Outfield |
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 A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: colour prejudice went up; and Samoans were heard to assure each
other that it was useless to appear before the Land Commission,
which was sworn to support the whites.
This deplorable state of affairs was brought to an end by the
departure from Samoa of the Natives' Advocate. He was succeeded
PRO TEMPORE by a young New Zealander, E. W. Gurr, not much more
versed in law than himself, and very much less so in Samoan.
Whether by more skill or better fortune, Gurr has been able in the
course of a few weeks to recover for the natives several important
tracts of land; and the prejudice against the Commission seems to
be abating as fast as it arose. I should not omit to say that, in
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