| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: into a lake, very dark and deep, shut in by steep and lofty
mountains. The railway runs along the eastern shore. On the other
side, a mile away, you see the old town, its white houses clinging
to the cliff like lichens to the face of a rock. The guide-book
calls it "a highly original situation." But this is one of the
cases where a little less originality and a little more
reasonableness might be desired, at least by the permanent
inhabitants. A ledge under the shadow of a precipice makes a
trying winter residence. The people of Hallstatt are not a
blooming race: one sees many dwarfs and cripples among them. But
to the summer traveller the place seems wonderfully picturesque.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: that no one must see it - this note may have been a promise for the
money which had not yet come. Did he, however, tell any one later
that he expected a certain sum? Do you think he would have been
likely to tell any one?"
"No, I do not think that he would tell any one. He never mentioned
to any of us that he had received money, or even that he expected
to receive it. None of us knew what outside resources he might have,
or whence they came. If it had not been that the money was paid him
by the carrier in the office two or three times - so, that we could
see it - we would none of us have known of this income, except for
the fact that he was freer in spending after the money came. He
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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 An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: be made to seem excusable, you lose all benefit of whatever interest
may attach to persons condemned to death for other crimes. If, at the
first, you had shown the hiding-places of the treasure, the plan of
the forest, the tubes in which the gold was buried, and the gold
itself, as an explanation of your day's work, it is possible you might
have been believed by an impartial magistrate, but as it is we must be
silent. God grant that none of the prisoners may reveal the truth and
compromise the defence; if they do, we must rely on our cross-
examinations."
Laurence wrung her hands in despair and raised her eyes to heaven with
a despondent look, for she saw at last in all its depths the gulf into
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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 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: still something or other broke it off again; till at last he turned
the tables, and he began to talk almost to the same purpose of
Ireland.
He told me that a man that could confine himself to country
life, and that could find but stock to enter upon any land,
should have farms there for #50 a year, as good as were here
let for #200 a year; that the produce was such, and so rich the
land, that if much was not laid up, we were sure to live as
handsomely upon it as a gentleman of #3000 a year could do
in England and that he had laid a scheme to leave me in London,
and go over and try; and if he found he could lay a handsome
Moll Flanders |
