| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: insignificance all that exist in Great Britain and Ireland. We have
the advantage of the experience of the whole world as to the choice of
breeds, the construction of sties, and the rearing of stock. We shall
have the major part of our food practically for the cost of collection,
and be able to adopt all the latest methods of Chicago for the killing,
curing, and disposing of our pork, ham, and bacon.
There are few animals more useful than the pig. He will eat anything,
live anywhere, and almost every particle of him, from the tip of his
nose to the end of his tail, is capable of being converted into a
saleable commodity. Your pig also is a great producer of manure,
and agriculture is after all largely a matter of manure. Treat the
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: converted into hands, or paddles, or wings. Whatever influence
long-continued exercise or use on the one hand, and disuse on the other,
may have in modifying an organ, such influence will mainly affect the
mature animal, which has come to its full powers of activity and has to
gain its own living; and the effects thus produced will be inherited at a
corresponding mature age. Whereas the young will remain unmodified, or be
modified in a lesser degree, by the effects of use and disuse.
In certain cases the successive steps of variation might supervene, from
causes of which we are wholly ignorant, at a very early period of life, or
each step might be inherited at an earlier period than that at which it
first appeared. In either case (as with the short-faced tumbler) the young
On the Origin of Species |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Hero of Our Time by M.Y. Lermontov: glance. Her expression was quite indefinite, but
it was not contemptuous, a fact on which I
inwardly congratulated Grushnitski from my
heart.
"She is an extremely pretty girl," I said. "She
has such velvet eyes -- yes, velvet is the word. I
should advise you to appropriate the expression
when speaking of her eyes. The lower and upper
lashes are so long that the sunbeams are not
reflected in her pupils. I love those eyes without
a glitter, they are so soft that they appear to
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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 Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: till the small hours by the waning fire. It was no wonder that Archie
was fond of company after his solitary days; and Kirstie, upon her side,
exerted all the arts of her vigorous nature to ensnare his attention.
She would keep back some piece of news during dinner to be fired off
with the entrance of the supper tray, and form as it were the LEVER DE
RIDEAU of the evening's entertainment. Once he had heard her tongue
wag, she made sure of the result. From one subject to another she moved
by insidious transitions, fearing the least silence, fearing almost to
give him time for an answer lest it should slip into a hint of
separation. Like so many people of her class, she was a brave narrator;
her place was on the hearth-rug and she made it a rostrum, mimeing her
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