| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hermione's Little Group of Serious Thinkers by Don Marquis: If all the little groups the country over would
take up the matter of Background in a serious way,
something might be done about it, don't you think?
We must organize -- we who are the intellectual
leaders, you know -- and start an effective propaga-
ganda for the purpose of obtaining more Background.
TAKING UP THE LIQUOR PROBLEM
WE'RE thinking of taking up the Liquor
problem -- our little group, you know, --
in quite a serious way.
The Working Classes would be so much better
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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 Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: felt, in view of my maternal escapade, a movement of jealousy. It is
certain, however, that his manner of receiving me was curt; he called
it an unheard-of thing to go out at such an hour, in such weather, to
see a boy who proved, by announcing his own illness, that it was
nothing serious. After letting him talk in this discourteous way for
some little time, I thought it was time to put an end to the scene, so
I said in a rather peremptory tone:--
"As I wanted to sleep at night, I went to the school in a pelting
rain; I came back by moonlight; and I beg you to remark that monsieur,
who was so good as to escort me, has come upstairs to bid you good-
bye, because he leaves Paris to-morrow morning."
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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 St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'Never fear,' I replied.
Her face was distorted with terror. Her hands took hold upon me
with the instinctive clutch of an infant. The chaise gave a flying
lurch, which took the feet from under me and tumbled us anyhow upon
the seat. And almost in the same moment the head of Bellamy
appeared in the window which Missy had left free for him.
Conceive the situation! The little lady and I were falling - or
had just fallen - backward on the seat, and offered to the eye a
somewhat ambiguous picture. The chaise was speeding at a furious
pace, and with the most violent leaps and lurches, along the
highway. Into this bounding receptacle Bellamy interjected his
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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 Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: journey, I found myself in the big city of New York, a FREE MAN--
one more added to the mighty throng which, like the confused waves
of the troubled sea, surged to and fro between the lofty walls of Broadway.
Though dazzled with the wonders which met me on every hand, my thoughts
could not be much withdrawn from my strange situation. For the moment,
the dreams of my youth and the hopes of my manhood were completely fulfilled.
The bonds that had held me to "old master" were broken. No man now
had a right to call me his slave or assert mastery over me. I was
in the rough and tumble of an outdoor world, to take my chance with
the rest of its busy number. I have often been asked how I felt
when first I found myself on free soil. There is scarcely anything
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