| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: that moment the two knaves whom I had brought from Paris with me,
and whom I had left at Auch to await my orders, came up. I made
them a sign not to speak to me, and they passed on; but I suppose
that they told the sergeant that I was not the man he wanted, for
I saw no more of him.
After picketing my horse behind the inn--I could find no better
stable, every place being full--I pushed my way through the group
at the door, and entered. The old room, with the low, grimy roof
and the reeking floor, was half full of strange figures, and for
a few minutes I stood unseen in the smoke and confusion. Then
the landlord came my way, and as he passed me I caught his eye.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: were my dresses?--had I a black silk? she asked. I had no black
silk, and thought one would be unnecessary for hot weather.
"Who ever heard of a girl of twenty-four having no black silk!
You have slimsy muslins, I dare say?"
"Yes."
"And you like them?"
"For present wear."
That afternoon she sent Mrs. Roll out, who returned with a
splendid heavy silk for me, which Aunt Eliza said should be made
before Saturday, and it was. I went to a fashionable dress-maker of
her recommending, and on Friday it came home, beautifully made and
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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 Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: considerations beyond our depth. It was possible, I reflected,
that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of the
scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to
modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful
impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my horse
to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in
unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down--but with a
shudder even more thrilling than before--upon the remodelled and
inverted images of the grey sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems,
and the vacant and eye-like windows.
Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to
The Fall of the House of Usher |
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 U. S. Project Trinity Report by Carl Maag and Steve Rohrer: low enough to allow workers to spend several hours in the area (3;
12).
The planned firing date for the TRINITY device was 4 July 1945. On 14
June 1945, Dr. Oppenheimer changed the test date to no earlier than 13
July and no later than 23 July. On 30 June, the earliest firing date
was moved to 16 July, even though better weather was forecast for 18
and 19 July. Because the Allied conference in Potsdam, Germany, was
about to begin and the President needed the results of the test as
soon as possible, the TRINITY test organization adjusted its schedules
accordingly and set shot-time at 0400 hours on 16 July (3; 12; 14).
The final preparations for the detonation started at 2200 on 15 July.
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