| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: was panting. Her heart was hammering suffocatingly. Her
lungs ached. She stopped, trembling. Then she remembered.
The altitude, of course. Heyl had boasted that his cabin
stood at an altitude of over nine thousand feet. Well, she
would have to get used to it. But she was soon striding
forward as briskly as before. She was a natural mountain
dweller. The air, the altitude, speeded up her heart, her
lungs, sent the blood dancing through her veins.
Figuratively, she was on tip-toe.
They had warned her, at the Inn, to take it slowly for the
first few days. They had asked no questions. Fanny learned
Fanny Herself |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: told his majesty not to eat too much cake late at night, or he would
be ill.
Dorothy, however, was hungry, and she was not afraid of being ill; so
she ate several cakes and found them good, and also she drank a cup of
excellent coffee made of a richly flavored clay, browned in the
furnaces and then ground fine, and found it most refreshing and not at
all muddy.
Of all the party which had started upon this adventure, the little
Kansas girl was now left alone with the Scarecrow, Tiktok, and the
private for counsellors and companions. Of course the Cowardly Lion
and the Hungry Tiger were still there, but they, having also eaten
Ozma of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: ASSOCIATION. It is his human environment which influences his
mind and his feelings, furnishes him his ideals, and sets him on
his road and keeps him in it. If he leave that road he will find
himself shunned by the people whom he most loves and esteems, and
whose approval he most values. He is a chameleon; by the law of
his nature he takes the color of his place of resort. The
influences about him create his preferences, his aversions, his
politics, his tastes, his morals, his religion. He creates none
of these things for himself. He THINKS he does, but that is
because he has not examined into the matter. You have seen
Presbyterians?
What is Man? |
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 Mansion by Henry van Dyke: at the top of the second column.
"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."
Now what had the Doctor said about that? How was it to
be understood--in what sense--treasures--in heaven?
The book seemed to float away from him. The light vanished.
He wondered dimly if this could be Death, coming so suddenly, so
quietly,
so irresistibly. He struggled for a moment to hold himself up,
and then sank slowly forward upon the table. His head rested
upon
his folded hands. He slipped into the unknown.
|
