| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: recollect, as it will give you some idea of the composition of
English society . . . This moment a large card in an envelope has
been brought me, which runs thus: "The Lord Steward has received
Her Majesty's commands to invite Mr. Bancroft to dinner at Windsor
Castle on Thursday, 12th November, to remain until Friday, 13th." I
am glad he will dine there before me, that he may tell me the order
of performances.
Friday, November 6th
. . . We had to-day a delightful visit from Rogers, the Poet, who is
now quite old, but with a most interesting countenance. He was full
of cordiality, and, at parting, as he took my hand, said: "Our
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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 Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: the small cottages are occupied by aspiring school-teachers and
choir-singers. Such was this locality, and you must admit that
it was indeed a condescension to tolerate Tony and Mrs. Murphy.
He was a great, black-bearded, hoarse-voiced, six-foot specimen
of Italian humanity, who looked in his little shop and on the
prosaic pavement of Prytania Street somewhat as Hercules might
seem in a modern drawing-room. You instinctively thought of wild
mountain-passes, and the gleaming dirks of bandit contadini in
looking at him. What his last name was, no one knew. Someone
had maintained once that he had been christened Antonio
Malatesta, but that was unauthentic, and as little to be believed
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poems by Bronte Sisters: The children, bending o'er their books,
His terror have not seen.
In his own home, by his own hearth,
He sits in solitude,
And circled round with light and mirth,
Cold horror chills his blood.
His mind would hold with desperate clutch
The scene that round him lies;
No--changed, as by some wizard's touch,
The present prospect flies.
A tumult vague--a viewless strife
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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 Master of the World by Jules Verne: been doing her best, she must some hours before have reached the
northeastern extremity of the lake.
At this end Lake Erie has no other outlet than the Niagara River, by
which it empties into Lake Ontario. Now, this river is barred by the
famous cataract some fifteen miles beyond the important city of
Buffalo. Since the "Terror" had not retreated by the Detroit River,
down which she had descended from the upper lakes, how was she to
escape from these waters, unless indeed she crossed by land?
The sun passed the meridian. The day was beautiful; warm but not
unpleasantly so, thanks to the breeze made by our passage. The shores
of the lake continued invisible on both the Canadian and the American
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