| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: representative body, but they were themselves the government.
They were, one and all, in turn liable to be called upon to make
laws, and to execute them after they were made, as well as to
administer justice in civil and criminal suits. The affairs and
interests, not only of their own city, but of a score or two of
scattered dependencies, were more or less closely to be looked
after by them. It lay with them to declare war, to carry it on
after declaring it, and to pay the expenses of it. Actually and
not by deputy they administered the government of their own city,
both in its local and in its imperial relations. All this implies
a more thorough, more constant, and more vital political training
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: wind in a keyhole. Who could it be? What could it mean? I
suppose I have had more real, solid misery out of that ..." He
paused, and looked troubled. "Though I had more to bother
me, or ought to have," he added, and slowly emptied his glass.
"It seems we were born to drive each other crazy with
conundrums," said I. "I have often thought my head would
split."
Carthew burst into his foolish laugh. "And yet neither you nor
I had the worst of the puzzle," he cried. "There were others
deeper in."
"And who were they?" I asked.
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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 Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: for what it lacks in brevity.
Chapter 60
Speculations and Conclusions
WE reached St. Paul, at the head of navigation of the Mississippi,
and there our voyage of two thousand miles from New Orleans ended. It is
about a ten-day trip by steamer. It can probably be done quicker by rail.
I judge so because I know that one may go by rail from St. Louis to Hannibal--
a distance of at least a hundred and twenty miles--in seven hours.
This is better than walking; unless one is in a hurry.
The season being far advanced when we were in New Orleans, the roses
and magnolia blossoms were falling; but here in St. Paul it was the snow,
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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 Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: physician, in 1535, and the time when he last prescribed for a
patient, in 1618, there was plenty of trouble in England. Bloody
Queen Mary sat on the throne; and there were all kinds of quarrels
about religion and politics; and Catholics and Protestants were
killing one another in the name of God. After that the red-haired
Elizabeth, called the Virgin Queen, wore the crown, and waged
triumphant war and tempestuous love. Then fat James of Scotland was
made king of Great Britain; and Guy Fawkes tried to blow him up with
gunpowder, and failed; and the king tried to blow out all the pipes
in England with his COUNTERBLAST AGAINST TOBACCO; but he failed too.
Somewhere about that time, early in the seventeenth century, a very
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