| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: endeavored to be reconciled to her lot, the thought of her
father's fine house, and the servants that used to wait upon her,
came up, and the struggle in her heart was very severe. In spite
of all she had said to Katy about the disgrace of selling candy
in the streets, she could not but be thankful that the poor girl
had none of her foolish pride. She read in the New Testament
about the lowly life which Jesus and the apostles led, and then
asked herself what right she had to be proud. And thus she
struggled through the long hours she remained alone--trying to be
humble, trying to be good and true. Those who labor and struggle
as hard as she did are always the better for it, even though they
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: place for you is your room, with bread and water
for a week. Sixteen!"
"Ignacio was born when my mother was sixteen,"
said Concha coolly.
"What of that? She married whom and when
she was told to marry."
"I have heard that you serenaded nightly beneath
her grating--"
"So did others."
"I have heard that when of all her suitors her
father chose one more highly born, a gentleman of
Rezanov |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: spare, or that would not have been very well filled. But the
king's death put an end to all these things.
Since the death of King William, Hampton Court seemed abandoned of
its patron. They have gotten a kind of proverbial saying relating
to Hampton Court, viz., that it has been generally chosen by every
other prince since it became a house of note. King Charles was the
first that delighted in it since Queen Elizabeth's time. As for
the reigns before, it was but newly forfeited to the Crown, and was
not made a royal house till King Charles I., who was not only a
prince that delighted in country retirements, but knew how to make
choice of them by the beauty of their situation, the goodness of
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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 Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore by Charles Kingsley: who knows the antibilious panacea as well as he, and submits, among
the northern fishermen, to the rather rude and undeserved name of
sea-puddings; one of which grows in Shetland to the enormous length
of three feet, rivalling there his huge congeners, who display
their exquisite plumes on every tropic coral reef. (9)
Next, what are those bright little buds, like salmon-coloured
Banksia roses half expanded, sitting closely on the stone? Touch
them; the soft part is retracted, and the orange flower of flesh is
transformed into a pale pink flower of stone. That is the
Madrepore, Caryophyllia Smithii (Plate V. fig. 2); one of our south
coast rarities: and see, on the lip of the last one, which we have
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