| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: your justly celebrated capital, had I known any person who
would have introduced me into the fashionable world, but
unfortunately I possessed no acquaintance there, and, of
necessity, was compelled to abandon the idea."
"So distinguished an individual as yourself," cried Albert,
"could scarcely have required an introduction."
"You are most kind; but as regards myself, I can find no
merit I possess, save that, as a millionaire, I might have
become a partner in the speculations of M. Aguado and M.
Rothschild; but as my motive in travelling to your capital
would not have been for the pleasure of dabbling in stocks,
The Count of Monte Cristo |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: Regnard saw it in 1681, at the copper-
works in Lapland.
My friend Quincy Kilby, of Brookline,
Mass., saw the same stunt performed by workmen
at the Meridan Brittania Company's
plant. They told him that if the hand had
been wet it would have been badly scalded.
Thus far our interest in heat-resistance has
uncovered secrets of no very great practical
value, however entertaining the uses to which
we have seen them put. But not all the
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: then coming into flower. Each had uttered one of those sayings that
are solemn to women who have reached their age.
"Like you," resumed the princess, "I have received more love than most
women; but through all my many adventures, I have never found
happiness. I committed great follies, but they had an object, and that
object retreated as fast as I approached it. I feel to-day in my
heart, old as it is, an innocence which has never been touched. Yes,
under all my experience, lies a first love intact,--just as I myself,
in spite of all my losses and fatigues, feel young and beautiful. We
may love and not be happy; we may be happy and never love; but to love
and be happy, to unite those two immense human experiences, is a
|
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 What is Man? by Mark Twain: New Zealand.
QUARTERNIONS, the name given to a style of art practiced by
the Phoenicians.
QUARTERNIONS, a religious convention held every hundred
years.
SIBILANT, the state of being idiotic.
CROSIER, a staff carried by the Deity.
In the following sentences the pupil's ear has been
deceiving him again:
The marriage was illegible.
He was totally dismasted with the whole performance.
What is Man? |
