| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: 'Farewell, sweet sister,' parted all in tears.
Then rose the dumb old servitor, and the dead,
Oared by the dumb, went upward with the flood--
In her right hand the lily, in her left
The letter--all her bright hair streaming down--
And all the coverlid was cloth of gold
Drawn to her waist, and she herself in white
All but her face, and that clear-featured face
Was lovely, for she did not seem as dead,
But fast asleep, and lay as though she smiled.
That day Sir Lancelot at the palace craved
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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: than those of a mere selfish tyrant--Frederick the Great, Christina
of Sweden, Joseph of Austria, and even that fallen Juno, Catharine
of Russia, with all her sins. To take the most extreme instance--
Voltaire. We may question his being a philosopher at all. We may
deny that he had even a tincture of formal philosophy. We may doubt
much whether he had any of that human and humorous common sense,
which is often a good substitute for the philosophy of the schools.
We may feel against him a just and honest indignation when we
remember that he dared to travestie into a foul satire the tale of
his country's purest and noblest heroine; but we must recollect, at
the same time, that he did a public service to the morality of his
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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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: following closely to find out what WHAT might be.
It was Joseph the gardener whom Tattine wanted, and she found him where she
thought she would, killing potato-bugs in the kitchen-garden.
"What do you think, Joseph? Betsy has a beautiful set of little setters under
the piazza. Come quick, please! and see how we can get them out."
Joseph followed obediently. "Guess we'll have to let them stay there till they
crawl out," said Joseph; "Betsy'll take as good care of them there as
anywhere," whereupon the children looked the picture of misery and despair. At
this moment Rudolph emerged from the hole a mass of grass and dirt stains,
and both Mabel and Tattine thought he had been pretty plucky, though quite too
much preoccupied to tell him so, but Rudolph happily felt himself repaid for
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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 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: courseI should take, how, and when, and in what manner I
should make myself known, or whether I should ever make
myself know or no.
Here was a perplexity that I had not indeed skill to manage
myself in, neither knew I what course to take. It lay heavy
upon my mind night and day. I could neither sleep nor
converse, sothat my husband perceived it, and wondered what
ailed me, strove to divert me, but it was all to no purpose. He
pressed me to tell him what it was troubled me, but I put it off,
till at last, importuning me continually, I was forced to form
a story, which yet had a plain truth to lay it upon too. It old
Moll Flanders |
