| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: He did not think of the warm sun and of the fresh air; he did not care for the
little cottage children that ran about and prattled when they were in the
woods looking for wild-strawberries. The children often came with a whole
pitcher full of berries, or a long row of them threaded on a straw, and sat
down near the young tree and said, "Oh, how pretty he is! What a nice little
fir!" But this was what the Tree could not bear to hear.
At the end of a year he had shot up a good deal, and after another year he was
another long bit taller; for with fir trees one can always tell by the shoots
how many years old they are.
"Oh! Were I but such a high tree as the others are," sighed he. "Then I should
be able to spread out my branches, and with the tops to look into the wide
Fairy Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: M. Hanotaux, having vaunted the utility of the Revolution, asks
whether its results were not bought too dearly, and adds:--
``History hesitates, and will, for a long time yet, hesitate to
answer.''
M. Madelin is equally dubious in the book he has recently
published:--
``I have never felt sufficient authority to form, even in my
inmost conscience, a categorical judgment on so complex a
phenomenon as the French Revolution. To-day I find it even more
difficult to form a brief judgement. Causes, facts, and
consequences seem to me to be still extremely debatable
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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 White Moll by Frank L. Packard: execution. Block after block was traversed. It was a long way
uptown, but the chauffeur's initial and generous tip was bearing
fruit. The man was losing no time.
Rhoda Gray calculated that they had been a little under half an
hour in making the trip, when the taxi finally drew up and stopped
at a corner, and the chauffeur, again leaning out, opened the door.
"Wait for me," she instructed, and handed the man another tip - and,
with a glance about her to get her location, she hurried around the
corner, and headed up the cross street.
She had only a block now to go to reach the Hayden-Bond mansion on
the corner of Fifth Avenue ahead - less than that to reach 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 Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: seemed to glare at good Mr. Lindsey, like a red-eyed demon,
triumphing in the mischief which it had done!
This, you will observe, was one of those rare cases, which yet
will occasionally happen, where common-sense finds itself at
fault. The remarkable story of the snow-image, though to that
sagacious class of people to whom good Mr. Lindsey belongs it may
seem but a childish affair, is, nevertheless, capable of being
moralized in various methods, greatly for their edification. One
of its lessons, for instance, might be, that it behooves men, and
especially men of benevolence, to consider well what they are
about, and, before acting on their philanthropic purposes, to be
The Snow Image |
