| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: tramps, drunks, beggars, and the riff-raff of petty offenders. The word itself
is a pretty one, and it has a history. Hautbois--there's the French of it.
haut, meaning high, and bois, wood. In English it becomes hautboy, a wooden
musical instrument of two-foot tone, I believe, played with a double reed, an
oboe, in fact. You remember in 'Henry IV'--
"'The case of a treble hautboy
Was a mansion for him, a court.'
From this to ho-boy is but a step, and for that matter the English used the
terms interchangeably. But--and mark you, the leap paralyzes one--crossing the
Western Ocean, in New York City, hautboy, or ho-boy, becomes the name by which
the night-scavenger is known. In a way one understands its being born of the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: in pleasant sort. Though little apt himself to use high-swelling
words, it did not annoy him to hear others sounding their own praises,
which he regarded as a harmless weakness, the pledge at least of high
endeavour[3] in the future.
[1] See "Hell." V. iii. 20; "Cyrop." I. iv. 27; "Econ." ii. 7; Plut.
"Ages." ii.; xx.; Lyc. xx.
[2] Or, "he would discuss graver matters, according to the humour of
his friends."
[3] Or, "of courageous conduct," "noble manhood."
But that he was capable of lofty sentiment and at the right season
must not be overlooked. Thus when a letter reached him from the king
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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 The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: of little value: she admitted that, physically, Zoraide might
have suited me, but affirmed that our souls were not in harmony,
and that discord must have resulted from the union of her mind
with mine. She then insisted on the suppression of all repining,
and commanded me rather to rejoice that I had escaped a snare.
Her medicament did me good. I felt its strengthening effect when
I met the directress the next day; its stringent operation on the
nerves suffered no trembling, no faltering; it enabled me to face
her with firmness, to pass her with ease. She had held out her
hand to me--that I did not choose to see. She had greeted me
with a charming smile--it fell on my heart like light on stone.
The Professor |
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 Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: interpreting.
On the 1st of this month a French general will be killed by a
random shot of a cannon-ball.
On the 6th a fire will break out in the suburbs of Paris, which
will destroy above a thousand houses; and seems to be the
foreboding of what will happen, to the surprize of all Europe,
about the end of the following month.
On the 10th a great battle will be fought, which will begin at
four of the clock in the afternoon; and last till nine at night
with great obstinacy, but no very decisive event. I shall not
name the place, for the reasons aforesaid; but the commanders on
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