| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: drunkenness, could send some sober thoughts through the
spendthrift's soul. He examined his life, and became thoughtful,
like a man involved in a lawsuit on his way to the Court.
Bartolommeo Belvidero, Don Juan's father, was an old man of
ninety, who had devoted the greatest part of his life to business
pursuits. He had acquired vast wealth in many a journey to
magical Eastern lands, and knowledge, so it was said, more
valuable than the gold and diamonds, which had almost ceased to
have any value for him.
"I would give more to have a tooth in my head than for a ruby,"
he would say at times with a smile. The indulgent father loved to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: ask the client thus sent to him by chance her name and address.
"I often see him at my friend Monsieur de Serizy's house. Madame de
Serizy is a connection of mine through the Ronquerolles."
"Well, if Madame wishes to go down to the Conciergerie," said an
usher, "she----"
"Yes," said Massol.
So the Baroness and the lawyer were allowed to pass, and they
presently found themselves in the little guard-room at the top of the
stairs leading to the "mousetrap," a spot well known to Asie, forming,
as has been said, a post of observation between those cells and the
Court of the Sixth Chamber, through which everybody is obliged to
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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 Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: destruction.
On the fourth side, following the curve of the bank of that
branch of the Pantai that formed the only access to the clearing,
ran a black line of young trees, bushes, and thick second growth,
unbroken save for a small gap chopped out in one place. At that
gap began the narrow footpath leading from the water's edge to
the grass-built shelter used by the night watchers when the
ripening crop had to be protected from the wild pigs. The
pathway ended at the foot of the piles on which the hut was
built, in a circular space covered with ashes and bits of burnt
wood. In the middle of that space, by the dim fire, lay Dain.
Almayer's Folly |
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 My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: high, his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks, bread
shall be given him, his water shall be sure."
We have not only heard much lately of patriotism, and of its aid
being invoked on the side of slavery and injustice, but the very
prosperity of this people has been called in to deafen them to
the voice of duty, and to lead them onward in the pathway of sin.
Thus has the blessing of God been converted into a curse. In the
spirit of genuine patriotism, I warn the American people, by all
that is just and honorable, to BEWARE!
I warn them that, strong, proud, and prosperous though we be,
there is a power above us that can "bring down high looks; at the
My Bondage and My Freedom |
