| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: be on the morrow bare slippery soil; or on the morrow its water may be
deeply sunk, so that thou canst not get thereat.
And his fruits were encompassed, and on the morrow he turned down
the palms of his hands for what he had spent thereon, for it was
fallen down upon its trellises. And he said, 'Would that I had never
associated any one with my Lord!' And he had-not any party to help him
beside God, nor was helped. In such a case the patronage is God's, the
true; He is best at rewarding and best at bringing to an issue.
Strike out for them, too, a parable of the life of this world;
like water which we send down from the sky, and the vegetation of
the earth is mingled therewith;-and on the morrow it is dried up,
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: next words she uttered: "I'm happy to say there's nothing the
matter with any part of me whatever, not the least little thing!"
She spoke with her habitual complacency, with triumphant assurance;
she smiled again, and I could see how she wished that she hadn't so
taken me up. She turned it off with a laugh. "I've good eyes,
good teeth, a good digestion and a good temper. I'm sound of wind
and limb!" Nothing could have been more characteristic than her
blush and her tears, nothing less acceptable to her than to be
thought not perfect in every particular. She couldn't submit to
the imputation of a flaw. I expressed my delight in what she told
me, assuring her I should always do battle for her; and as if to
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: Anahuac. Say, Teule, why have your countrymen landed on my
dominions and slain my people?'
'I know nothing of it, O king,' I answered as well as I might with
the help of Guatemoc, 'and they are not my countrymen.'
'The report says that you confess to having the blood of these
Teules in your veins, and that you came to these shores, or near
them, in one of their great canoes.'
'That is so, O king, yet I am not of their people, and I came to
the shore floating on a barrel.'
'I hold that you lie,' answered Montezuma frowning, 'for the sharks
and crocodiles would devour one who swam thus.' Then he added
Montezuma's Daughter |
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 Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: hand for still another set of papers. The pink of repressed
excitement was tinting her cheeks.
"They're--they're all like this?"
"Practically, yes."
Mrs. McChesney faced him, her eyes wide, her breath coming fast.
"T. A. Buck," she slapped the papers before her smartly with
the back of her hand, "this means you've broken our record for
Middle Western sales!"
"Yes," said T. A., quietly. "Dad would have enjoyed a morning
like this, wouldn't he?"
Emma McChesney stood up.
Emma McChesney & Co. |
