| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Riverman by Stewart Edward White: broken and dingy fragment of a beer-schooner. They were very dirty;
their hair had fallen over their eyes, which were bloodshot; the
expression of their faces was imbecile. As the phaeton passed, they
hailed its occupants in thick voices, shouting against the wind
maudlin invitations to drink.
The crowd gathered at the pier comprised fully half the population
of Monrovia. It centred about the life saving crew, whose mortar
was being loaded. A stove-in lifeboat mutely attested the failure
of other efforts. The men worked busily, ramming home the powder
sack, placing the projectile with the light line attached, attending
that the reel ran freely. Their chief watched the seas and winds
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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 Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: call me, has still other things to learn besides the
cultivation of tulips."
"Yes, yes, and I am as anxious as you are, Rosa, that you
should learn to read."
"When shall we begin?"
"At once."
"No, to-morrow."
"Why to-morrow?"
"Because to-day our hour is expired, and I must leave you."
"Already? But what shall we read?"
"Oh," said Rosa, "I have a book, -- a book which I hope will
The Black Tulip |
| 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: Yes, even there, if, listening by,
One faithful dear companion stood,
While gazing on her full bright eye,
Thou mightst forget thy native wood
But thou, poor solitary dove,
Must make, unheard, thy joyless moan;
The heart that Nature formed to love
Must pine, neglected, and alone.
SELF-CONGRATULATION.
Ellen, you were thoughtless once
Of beauty or of grace,
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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 La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: local name for the embankment made at the foot of the cliffs to keep
the Loire in its bed, and serve as a causeway for the highroad from
Paris to Nantes. At the top of the steps a gate opens upon a narrow
stony footpath between two terraces, for here the soil is banked up,
and walls are built to prevent landslips. These earthworks, as it
were, are crowned with trellises and espaliers, so that the steep path
that lies at the foot of the upper wall is almost hidden by the trees
that grow on the top of the lower, upon which it lies. The view of the
river widens out before you at every step as you climb to the house.
At the end you come to a second gateway, a Gothic archway covered with
simple ornament, now crumbling into ruin and overgrown with
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