| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: as well as on land, he knows how to provide for the liberty as well
as for the wants of his guests. He understands also the fine art
of conversation, which consists of silence as well as speech. And
when it comes to angling, Izaak Walton himself could not have been
a more profitable teacher by precept or example. Indeed, it is a
curious thought, and one full of sadness to a well-constituted
mind, that on the Ristigouche "I. W." would have been at sea, for
the beloved father of all fishermen passed through this world
without ever catching a salmon. So ill does fortune match with
merit here below.
At last the days of idleness were ended. We could not
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare: DIANA.
Will you not, my lord?
BERTRAM.
It is an honour 'longing to our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors;
Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world
In me to lose.
DIANA.
Mine honour's such a ring:
My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors;
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: One thing was clear; Clark, not a drinker before, had taken to
drinking hard, and after a time, and some unpleasant scenes probably,
she refused to see him any more.
When the play closed, in June, 1911, she married Howard Lucas, her
leading man; his third wife. Lucas had been not a bad chap, a
good-looking, rather negligible man, given to all-day Sunday poker,
carefully valeted, not very keen mentally, but amiable. They had
bought a house on East Fifty-sixth Street, and were looking for a
new play with Lucas as co-star, when he unaccountably went to pieces
nervously, stopped sleeping, and developed a slight twitching of
his handsome, rather vacuous face.
The Breaking Point |
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 Blix by Frank Norris: in the week, and then not for more than two hours at a time.
Heretofore hardly an evening that had not seen him at the round
table in his club's card-room, whence he had not risen until long
after midnight.
Condy had told young Sargeant that he had "reformed" in the matter
of gambling, and intended to swear off for a few months.
Sargeant, like the thoroughbred he was, never urged him to play
after that, and never spoke of the previous night's game when
Condy was about. The other men of his "set" were no less
thoughtful, and, though they rallied him a little at first upon
|
