| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: ous calculating hardness of character and a sharp
tongue, so at variance with her appearance that
people doubted the evidence of their senses.
"If," said Imogen, "you had only made Benny
work instead of encouraging him to dawdle and
finally to stop altogether, and if you had gone out
directly after dinner, the hay would have been all
raked up and covered."
Nothing could have exceeded the calm and in-
structive superiority of Imogen's tone. A mass of
soft white fabric lay upon her lap, although she had
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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 Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: excitement, and this excitement is not accompanied by the thing
that needs properly to be done, and that is why music is so
dangerous, and sometimes acts so frightfully.
"In China music is under the control of the State, and that is
the way it ought to be. Is it admissible that the first comer
should hypnotize one or more persons, and then do with them as he
likes? And especially that the hypnotizer should be the first
immoral individual who happens to come along? It is a frightful
power in the hands of any one, no matter whom. For instance,
should they be allowed to play this 'Kreutzer Sonata,' the first
presto,--and there are many like it,--in parlors, among ladies
The Kreutzer Sonata |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: tense, breathless pause, then he rather felt than saw the Marshal
raise his baton. He gathered himself together, and the next
moment a bugle sounded loud and clear. In one blinding rush he
drove his spurs into the sides of his horse, and in instant
answer felt the noble steed spring forward with a bound.
Through all the clashing of his armor reverberating in the hollow
depths of his helmet, he saw the mail-clad figure from the other
end of the lists rushing towards him, looming larger and larger
as they came together. He gripped his saddle with his knees,
clutched the stirrup with the soles of his feet, and bent his
body still more forward. In the instant of meeting, with almost
Men of Iron |
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 Margret Howth: A Story of To-day by Rebecca Harding Davis: exultant with the life of bird and forest, she forgot the poor
vile thing she was, some coarse weight fell off, and something
within, not the sickly Lois of the mill, went out, free, like an
exile dreaming of home.
You tell me, that, doubtless, in the wreck of the creature's
brain, there were fragments of some artistic insight that made
her thus rise above the level of her daily life, drunk with the
mere beauty of form and colour. I do not know,--not knowing how
sham or real a thing you mean by artistic insight. But I do know
that the clear light I told you of shone for this girl dimly
through this beauty of form and colour; alive. The Life, rather;
Margret Howth: A Story of To-day |
