| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson:
Treasure Island |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: shores of the island, only this bight remained to be revealed.
And suddenly the curtain was raised; they began to open out a
haven, snugly elbowed there, and beheld, with an astonishment
beyond words, the roofs of men.
The appearance, thus 'instantaneously disclosed' to those on
the deck of the Farallone, was not that of a city, rather of a
substantial country farm with its attendant hamlet: a long line
of sheds and store-houses; apart, upon the one side, a deep-
verandah'ed dwelling-house; on the other, perhaps a dozen
native huts; a building with a belfry and some rude offer at
architectural features that might be thought to mark it out for a
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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 Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: gallery, formerly communicated through an immense aviary with this
hot-house. But after the building of the wall which deprived him of a
view into the orchards, Dumay bricked up the door of communication.
"Wall for wall!" he said.
In 1827 Vilquin offered Dumay a salary of six thousand francs, and ten
thousand more as indemnity, if he would give up the lease. The cashier
refused; though he had but three thousand francs from Gobenheim, a
former clerk of his master. Dumay was a Breton transplanted by fate
into Normandy. Imagine therefore the hatred conceived for the tenants
of the Chalet by the Norman Vilquin, a man worth three millions! What
criminal leze-million on the part of a cashier, to hold up to the eyes
Modeste Mignon |
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 Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: and judge.
In fine, that I may not approach you empty-handed, blessed
Father, I bring with me this little treatise, published under
your name, as a good omen of the establishment of peace and of
good hope. By this you may perceive in what pursuits I should
prefer and be able to occupy myself to more profit, if I were
allowed, or had been hitherto allowed, by your impious
flatterers. It is a small matter, if you look to its exterior,
but, unless I mistake, it is a summary of the Christian life put
together in small compass, if you apprehend its meaning. I, in my
poverty, have no other present to make you, nor do you need
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