| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: either of us at the outset. To begin with, I found myself reserving
myself from her, then slowly apprehending a jarring between our
minds and what seemed to me at first a queer little habit of
misunderstanding in her. . . .
It did not hinder my being very fond of her. . . .
Where our system of reservation became at once most usual and most
astounding was in our personal relations. It is not too much to say
that in that regard we never for a moment achieved sincerity with
one another during the first six years of our life together. It
goes even deeper than that, for in my effort to realise the ideal of
my marriage I ceased even to attempt to be sincere with myself. I
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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 Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: time to understand the nature of emigration. Day by day throughout
the passage, and thenceforward across all the States, and on to the
shores of the Pacific, this knowledge grew more clear and melancholy.
Emigration, from a word of the most cheerful import, came to sound
most dismally in my ear. There is nothing more agreeable to picture
and nothing more pathetic to behold. The abstract idea, as conceived
at home, is hopeful and adventurous. A young man, you fancy,
scorning restraints and helpers, issues forth into life, that great
battle, to fight for his own hand. The most pleasant stories of
ambition, of difficulties overcome, and of ultimate success, are but
as episodes to this great epic of self-help. The epic is composed of
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