| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: until the whole field is full of skimming lights.
CHAPTER X.
TO THE PENTLAND HILLS.
ON three sides of Edinburgh, the country slopes
downward from the city, here to the sea, there to the fat
farms of Haddington, there to the mineral fields of
Linlithgow. On the south alone, it keeps rising until it
not only out-tops the Castle but looks down on Arthur's
Seat. The character of the neighbourhood is pretty
strongly marked by a scarcity of hedges; by many stone
walls of varying height; by a fair amount of timber, some
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the
Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given
to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--
as cheerfully to one section as to another.
There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives
from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly
written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:
"No person held to service or labor in one State,
under the laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall in consequence of any law or regulation
therein be discharged from such service or labor,
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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 Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: showed us beforehand what our fate would be if we let ourselves fall
into it. It was he who put us on our guard against the time-bargains a
man makes with poverty under the sanction of hope, by accepting
precarious situations whence he fights the battle, carried along by
the devious tide of Paris--that great harlot who takes you up or
leaves you stranded, smiles or turns her back on you with equal
readiness, wears out the strongest will in vexatious waiting, and
makes misfortune wait on chance.
At our first meeting, Marcas, as it were, dazzled us. On our return
from the schools, a little before the dinner-hour, we were accustomed
to go up to our room and remain there a while, either waiting for the
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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 The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: friend Claus, it is your duty to make all little ones glad, whether
they chance to live in palaces or in cottages."
"Your words are wise, fair Queen," replied Claus, "and my heart tells
me they are as just as they are wise. Hereafter all children may
claim my services."
Then he bowed before the gracious Fairy and, kissing Necile's red
lips, went back into his Valley.
At the brook he stopped to drink, and afterward he sat on the bank and
took a piece of moist clay in his hands while he thought what sort of
toy he should make for Bessie Blithesome. He did not notice that his
fingers were working the clay into shape until, glancing downward, he
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
