| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: bore the impress of his personality. The detective's quick
imagination called up the attractive, sympathetic figure of the
man he had seen at the gate, as his quick eye took in the details
of the room. All the charm of Herbert Thorne's personality, which
the keen-sensed Muller had felt so strongly even in that fleeting
glimpse of him, came back again here in the room which was his own
little kingdom and the expression of his mentality.
"Well, what's the trouble here? Where are the wires?" asked the
detective, after the momentary pause which had followed his entrance
into the room. Franz led him to a spot on the wall hidden by a
marquetry cabinet. "Here's the bell, it rings for several minutes
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: pressure of daily life is increasing; nursing-homes have sprung
up for the special purpose of treating such cases; and doctors
are starting special courses of tuition in the art--now becoming
very important--of systematically doing nothing! And yet
it is difficult to see the outcome of it all. The clock of what
is called Progress is not easily turned backward. We should
not very readily agree nowadays to the abolition of telegrams
or to a regulation compelling express trains to stop at every
station! We can't ALL go to Nursing Homes, or afford to enjoy
a winter's rest-cure in Egypt. And, if not, is the speeding-up
process to go on indefinitely, incapable of being checked, and
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: knowing why she did it, or why, every time she did it, she felt more
and more serene; until, oh, what a pity that they should do it--a hand
reached out, took a pear, and spoilt the whole thing. In sympathy she
looked at Rose. She looked at Rose sitting between Jasper and Prue.
How odd that one's child should do that!
How odd to see them sitting there, in a row, her children, Jasper,
Rose, Prue, Andrew, almost silent, but with some joke of their own
going on, she guessed, from the twitching at their lips. It was
something quite apart from everything else, something they were
hoarding up to laugh over in their own room. It was not about their
father, she hoped. No, she thought not. What was it, she wondered,
To the Lighthouse |
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 The Call of the Wild by Jack London: callowness sheer and unutterable. Both men were manifestly out of
place, and why such as they should adventure the North is part of
the mystery of things that passes understanding.
Buck heard the chaffering, saw the money pass between the man and
the Government agent, and knew that the Scotch half-breed and the
mail-train drivers were passing out of his life on the heels of
Perrault and Francois and the others who had gone before. When
driven with his mates to the new owners' camp, Buck saw a slipshod
and slovenly affair, tent half stretched, dishes unwashed,
everything in disorder; also, he saw a woman. "Mercedes" the men
called her. She was Charles's wife and Hal's sister--a nice
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