| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Treatise on Parents and Children by George Bernard Shaw: spend most of its time at play, whilst the adult should spend most of
his time at work. I am not now writing on behalf of persons who
coddle themselves into a ridiculous condition of nervous feebleness,
and at last imagine themselves unable to work under conditions of
bustle which to healthy people are cheerful and stimulating. I am
sure that if people had to choose between living where the noise of
children never stopped and where it was never heard, all the
goodnatured and sound people would prefer the incessant noise to the
incessant silence. But that choice is not thrust upon us by the
nature of things. There is no reason why children and adults should
not see just as much of one another as is good for them, no more and
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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 Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: it is owing, too, that longing, which seems to us childish, after
ancient forms, etiquettes, dignities, court costumes, formalities
diplomatic, legal, ecclesiastical. Men clung to them as to
keepsakes of the past--revered relics of more intelligible and
better-ordered times. If the spirit had been beaten out of them in
a century of battle, that was all the more reason for keeping up the
letter. They had had a meaning once, a life once; perhaps there was
a little life left in them still; perhaps the dry bones would clothe
themselves with flesh once more, and stand upon their feet. At
least it was useful that the common people should so believe. There
was good hope that the simple masses, seeing the old dignities and
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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 Margret Howth: A Story of To-day by Rebecca Harding Davis: counting.
"Ninety, ninety-five, AND one hundred, all right,"--tying a bit
of tape about the papers. "My Sophy, Mr. Holmes. Good girl,
Sophy is. Bring her up to the mill sometimes," he said,
apologetically, "on 'count of not leaving her alone. She gets
lonesome at th' house."
Holmes glanced at Pike's felt hat lying on the table: there was a
rusty strip of crape on it.
"Yes," said Pike, in a lower tone, "I'm father and mother, both,
to Sophy now."
"I had not heard," said Holmes, kindly. "How about the boys,
Margret Howth: A Story of To-day |
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 Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: dress might challenge that even of Madame de Vaudremont, who, by a
chance not perhaps unsought, was standing with Montcornet vis-a-vis to
himself and the lady in blue. All eyes were for a moment turned on
Madame de Soulanges; a flattering murmur showed that she was the
subject of every man's conversation with his partner. Looks of
admiration and envy centered on her, with so much eagerness that the
young creature, abashed by a triumph she seemed to disclaim, modestly
looked down, blushed, and was all the more charming. When she raised
her white eyelids it was to look at her ravished partner as though she
wished to transfer the glory of this admiration to him, and to say
that she cared more for his than for all the rest. She threw her
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