| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: said.
He was astonished at her distress. He stood up also.
"My dear," he said, "I can assure you I am not mad. I should
have prepared you, I know...."
She looked at him wild-eyed. Then she glanced at the phial,
gripped in her hand.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, and going swiftly to the window emptied
out the contents of the little bottle. He realized what she was
doing too late to prevent her.
"Don't waste that!" he cried, and stepping forward caught hold
of her wrist. The phial fell from her white fingers, and crashed
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: him, especially if the speaker appears to me to be a wise man. Having a
desire to understand, I question him, and I examine and analyse and put
together what he says, in order that I may understand; but if the speaker
appears to me to be a poor hand, I do not interrogate him, or trouble
myself about him, and you may know by this who they are whom I deem to be
wise men, for you will see that when I am talking with a wise man, I am
very attentive to what he says; and I ask questions of him, in order that I
may learn, and be improved by him. And I could not help remarking while
you were speaking, that when you recited the verses in which Achilles, as
you argued, attacks Odysseus as a deceiver, that you must be strangely
mistaken, because Odysseus, the man of wiles, is never found to tell a lie;
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: that grew from minute to minute gathered in front of the closed
gates to the rectory, in front of the church, the closed doors of
which did not open although it was a high feast day. The utter
silence from the steeple, where the bells hung mute, added to the
spreading terror. Finally the doctor came out from the rectory,
accompanied by the magistrate, and announced to the waiting
villagers that their venerable pastor had disappeared under
circumstances which left no doubt that he had met his death at
the hand of a murderer. The peasants listened in shuddering silence,
the men pale-faced, the women sobbing aloud with frightened children
hanging to their skirts. Then at the magistrate's order, the crowd
|
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 Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: Even in novels, love shows at its best when it does not absorb the
whole plot. LORNA DOONE is a lovers' story, but there is a blessed
minimum of spooning in it, and always enough of working and fighting
to keep the air clear and fresh. THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN, and
HYPATIA, and ROMOLA, and THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH, and JOHN
INGLESANT, and THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and NOTRE DAME, and PEACE AND
WAR, and QUO VADIS,--these are great novels because they are much
more than tales of romantic love. As for HENRY ESMOND, (which seems
to me the best of all,) certainly "love at first sight" does not
play the finest role in that book.
There are good stories of our own day--pathetic, humourous,
|
