| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Reminiscences of Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy: fond of him, and sorry for him, and do nothing but read him. I
live entirely with him. I shall certainly give a lecture on him,
or write it to be read; tell Yúryef.
"Enough"--read it; it is perfectly charming.
Unfortunately, my father's intended lecture on
Turgénieff never came off. The Government forbade him to
pay this last tribute to his dead friend, with whom he had
quarreled all his life only because he could not be indifferent to
him.
(To be continued)
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: than a country road. There was no indication of the six miles of
pavement which later were to be Fallon's pride. It had rained
earlier in the week and Martin was obliged to be careful of the
chuck-holes in the sticky, heavy gumbo soon to be the bane of
pioneers venturing forth in what were to be known for a few short
years as "horseless carriages."
Bumping along he recalled to his mind the various girls with whom
he had gone to school. As if the sight of the building, itself,
would sharpen his memory, he turned north and drove past it. Like
its south, east and west counterparts, it was a solid two-story
brick affair. In time it would be demolished to make way for what
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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 Study of a Woman by Honore de Balzac: the last seven years to the Marquis de Listomere, one of those
deputies who expect a peerage, she may also consider that such conduct
will promote the ambitions of her family. Some women are reserving
their opinion of her until the moment when Monsieur de Listomere
becomes a peer of France, when she herself will be thirty-six years of
age,--a period of life when most women discover that they are the
dupes of social laws.
The marquis is a rather insignificant man. He stands well at court;
his good qualities are as negative as his defects; the former can no
more make him a reputation for virtue than the latter can give him the
sort of glamor cast by vice. As deputy, he never speaks, but he votes
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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 Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: Godhome, a mighty castle, newly built as a house of state for the
one-eyed god and his all-ruling wife. Wotan has not yet seen this
castle except in his dreams: two giants have just built it for
him whilst he slept; and the reality is before him for the first
time when Fricka wakes him. In that majestic burg he is to rule
with her and through her over the humble giants, who have eyes to
gape at the glorious castles their own hands have built from his
design, but no brains to design castles for themselves, or to
comprehend divinity. As a god, he is to be great, secure, and
mighty; but he is also to be passionless, affectionless, wholly
impartial; for Godhead, if it is to live with Law, must have no
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