| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The House of Dust by Conrad Aiken: Of secret idols carved in secret chambers
From all you did and said.
Nothing was done, until at last she knew you.
Nothing was known, till, somehow, she was dead.
How did she die?--You say, she died of poison.
Simple and swift. And much to be regretted.
You did not see her pass
So many thousand times from light to darkness,
Pausing so many times before her glass;
You did not see how many times she hurried
To lean from certain windows, vainly hoping,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: the race has learned to approve and cherish.
This series of Monographs, therefore, will include researches in
each of these departments of knowledge insofar as they meet our
special interest.
It is confidently anticipated that the series will stimulate the
study of the problems of delinquency, the State control of which
commands as great expenditure of human toil and treasure as does
the control of constructive public education.
ROBERT H. GAULT,
Editor of the Journal of Criminal COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION
Law and Criminology, OF THE
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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 Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Nina watched her. She was out of patience with Elizabeth,
exasperated with the world.
"Are you going to go on like this all your life?" she demanded.
"Sitting by a window, waiting? For a man who ran away from you?"
"That's not true, and you know it."
"They're all alike," Nina declared recklessly. "They go along well
enough, and they are all for virtue and for the home and fireside
stuff, until some woman comes their way. I ought to know."
Elizabeth looked up quickly.
"Why, Nina!" she said. "You don't mean - "
"He went to New York this morning. He pretended to be going on
The Breaking Point |
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 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: pursuing my retreat. 'Hey, Gnasher! Hey, dog! Hey Wolf, holld
him, holld him!'
On opening the little door, two hairy monsters flew at my throat,
bearing me down, and extinguishing the light; while a mingled
guffaw from Heathcliff and Hareton put the copestone on my rage and
humiliation. Fortunately, the beasts seemed more bent on
stretching their paws, and yawning, and flourishing their tails,
than devouring me alive; but they would suffer no resurrection, and
I was forced to lie till their malignant masters pleased to deliver
me: then, hatless and trembling with wrath, I ordered the
miscreants to let me out - on their peril to keep me one minute
Wuthering Heights |
