| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: caught another one! I never saw such luck. I might have hunted
these woods a hundred years, I never should have run across that
thing.
Next Day
I have been comparing the new one with the old one, and it is
perfectly plain that they are the same breed. I was going to stuff
one of them for my collection, but she is prejudiced against it
for some reason or other; so I have relinquished the idea, though
I think it is a mistake. It would be an irreparable loss to science
if they should get away. The old one is tamer than it was, and
can laugh and talk like the parrot, having learned this, no doubt,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: Tattine was getting on beautifully with her attempt to use Grandma Luty's name
at the proper time, and in the proper place, and she was getting on
beautifully with grandma herself as well. She loved everything about her, and
wished it need not be so very long till she could be a grandma herself, have
white hair and wear snowy caps atop of it, and kerchiefs around her neck, and
use gold eye-glasses and a knitting-basket. Grandma Luty, you see, was one of
the dear, old-fashioned grandmothers. There are not many of them nowadays.
Most of them seem to like to dress so you cannot tell a grandmother from just
an ordinary everyday mother. If you have a grandmother--a nice old one, I
mean--see if you cannot get her into the cap and kerchief, and then show her
how lovely she looks in them. But what I was going to tell you was that
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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 In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: large staff of assistants, and provided with all the facts in
possession of the School Board Visitors, Mr. Booth took an industrial
census of East London. This district, which comprises Tower Hamlets,
Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Hackney, contains a population of
908,000; that is to say, less than one-fourth of the population of
London. How do his statistics work out? If we estimate the number of
the poorest class in the rest of London as being twice as numerous as
those in the Eastern District, instead of being thrice as numerous, as
they would be if they were calculated according to the population in
the same proportion, the following is the result:
PAUPERS
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
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 Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: "Was the signature on the bill alleged to be a forgery in your
handwriting?--Had you previously done business with M. le Comte
d'Esgrignon?--Was not M. le Comte d'Esgrignon in the habit of drawing
upon you, with or without advice?--Did you not write a letter
authorizing M. d'Esgrignon to rely upon you at any time?-- Had not
Chesnel squared the account not once, but many times already?--Were
you not away from home when this took place?"
All these questions the banker answered in the affirmative. In spite
of wordy explanations, the magistrate always brought him back to a
"Yes" or "No." When the questions and answers alike had been resumed
in the proces-verbal, the examining magistrate brought out a final
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