| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: shrine she dedicated an equal number of beads and an equal length
of time. Like a prudent capitalist with a somewhat cynical view of
the commercial prospect, she desired to place her supplications in
a great variety of heavenly securities. She would risk nothing on
the credit of any single intercessor. Out of the whole company of
saints and angels, not one but was to suppose himself her champion
elect against the Great Assize! I could only think of it as a
dull, transparent jugglery, based upon unconscious unbelief.
She was as dead an old woman as ever I saw; no more than bone and
parchment, curiously put together. Her eyes, with which she
interrogated mine, were vacant of sense. It depends on what you
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: rights, principles, and dignity!... Oh! my dear Sir, you surely do not
advocate this? I inclose an editorial clipping.... Is it no shock to you
when Winston Churchill shouts to High Heaven that under no circumstances
will Great Britain surrender its supreme control of the seas? This in
reply to President Wilson's plea for freedom of the seas and curtailment
of armaments.... But as you see, our President and our Mr. Daniels have
already said, 'Very well, we will outbuild you.' Never again shall Great
Britain stop our mail ships and search our private mails. Already has
England declared an embargo against our exports in many essential lines
and already are we expressing our dissatisfaction and taking means to
retaliate "
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign
it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections, to that
House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the
Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider
it. If after such Reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall
agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the
Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be
reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it
shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both
Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the
Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the
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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 Youth by Joseph Conrad: me she was the endeavor, the test, the trial of life. I
think of her with pleasure, with affection, with regret--
as you would think of someone dead you have loved. I
shall never forget her. . . . Pass the bottle.
"One night when tied to the mast, as I explained, we
were pumping on, deafened with the wind, and without
spirit enough in us to wish ourselves dead, a heavy sea
crashed aboard and swept clean over us. As soon as I
got my breath I shouted, as in duty bound, 'Keep on,
boys!' when suddenly I felt something hard floating on
deck strike the calf of my leg. I made a grab at it and
Youth |
