| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: reached this standpoint, there is no need for enlightenment from the
instincts of the child-bearers of society as such; their condemnation of
war, rising not so much from the fact that it is a wasteful destruction of
human flesh, as that it is an indication of the non-existence of that co-
ordination, the harmony which is summed up in the cry, "My little children,
love one another."
But for the vast bulk of humanity, probably for generations to come, the
instinctive antagonism of the human child-bearer to reckless destruction of
that which she has at so much cost produced, will be necessary to educate
the race to any clear conception of the bestiality and insanity of war.
War will pass when intellectual culture and activity have made possible 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 Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: mighty small affair at the worst of it; and it belongs to a class
of accident to which my paint is quite inapplicable. Sin, my dear
young friend, sin is the sole calamity that a wise man should
apprehend; it is against sin that I have fitted you out; and when
you come to be tempted, you will give me news of my paint."
"Oh!" said the young man, "I did not understand that, and it seems
rather disappointing. But I have no doubt all is for the best; and
in the meanwhile, I shall be obliged to you if you will set my
leg."
"That is none of my business," said the physician; "but if your
bearers will carry you round the corner to the surgeon's, I feel
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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 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and
devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she
heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the
reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I
feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to
Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavored to
push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my
wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the
possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police
fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again.
She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
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 Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: have violated its tomb, laid open its dead body, and traced the
course of every muscle, bone, and artery; who have sucked its
very soul from the pages of poets and humanists; who have wept
and believed with Joachim of Flora, smiled and doubted with
AEneas Sylvius Piccolomini; who have patiently followed to its
source the least inspiration of the masters, and groped in
neolithic caverns and Babylonian ruins for the first unfolding
tendrils of the arabesques of Mantegna and Crivelli; and I tell
you that I stand abashed and ignorant before the mystery of this
picture. It means nothing--it means all things. It may
represent the period which saw its creation; it may represent all
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