| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: letter put an end to his love? Many such questions, all insoluble,
tormented poor Ursula, and, by repercussion, the doctor too, who
suffered from every agitation of his darling child. Ursula went often
to her chamber to look at Savinien, whom she usually found sitting
pensively before his table with his eyes turned towards her window. At
the end of the week, but no sooner, she received a letter from him;
the delay was explained by his increasing love.
To Mademoiselle Ursula Mirouet:
Dear Ursula,--I am a Breton, and when my mind is once made up
nothing can change me. Your godfather, whom may God preserve to
us, is right; but does it follow that I am wrong in loving you?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger: day--the average workday--is far from being the best thing. The law of
compensation is bound to work in some way, and the immediate result of
this agricultural work is interference with school attendance.''
How closely related this form of child-slavery is to the over-large
family, is definitely illustrated: ``In the one hundred and thirty-
three families visited, there were six hundred children. A
conversation held with a ``Rooshian-German' woman is indicative of the
size of most of the families:
``How many children have you?'' inquired the investigator.
``Eight--Julius, und Rose, und Martha, dey is mine; Gottlieb und
Philip, und Frieda, dey is my husband's;--und Otto und Charlie--dey
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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 Symposium by Plato: doings then and my sayings now. But let the attendants and other profane
and unmannered persons close up the doors of their ears.
When the lamp was put out and the servants had gone away, I thought that I
must be plain with him and have no more ambiguity. So I gave him a shake,
and I said: 'Socrates, are you asleep?' 'No,' he said. 'Do you know what
I am meditating? 'What are you meditating?' he said. 'I think,' I
replied, 'that of all the lovers whom I have ever had you are the only one
who is worthy of me, and you appear to be too modest to speak. Now I feel
that I should be a fool to refuse you this or any other favour, and
therefore I come to lay at your feet all that I have and all that my
friends have, in the hope that you will assist me in the way of virtue,
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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 Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: called Maitre Cornelius familiarly by that obsolete term, which, under
the reign of Saint-Louis, meant a usurer, a collector of imposts, a
man who pressed others by violent means. The epithet, "tortionnaire,"
which remains to this day in our legal phraseology, explains the old
word torconnier, which we often find spelt "tortionneur." The poor
young orphan devoted himself carefully to the affairs of the old
Fleming, pleased him much, and was soon high in his good graces.
During a winter's night, certain diamonds deposited with Maitre
Cornelius by the King of England as security for a sum of a hundred
thousand crowns were stolen, and suspicion, of course, fell on the
orphan. Louis XI. was all the more severe because he had answered for
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