| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: her husband on the fortifications when buildings were crumbling
and walls falling, and her husband was buried by an exploding
mine, and then vomited out unhurt by a second explosion. Among
the number were several recent arrivals in Peking who had had
none of these bitter experiences, but had heard much of the
Empress Dowager, and above all things else they were anxious to
see her whom they called the "She Dragon."
The presiding officer had been longest in Peking, and as doyen of
these diplomatic ladies, she acted as chairman of the meeting.
The first question to be decided was the mode of conveyance to
the "Forbidden City." Without much discussion it was decided to
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: the body of his humble friend. For it was decided that Tom Corbin
should rest far out in the bay of Biscay. The officer took the
tiller and, turning his head for the last look at the shore, saw on
the grey hillside something moving, which he made out to be a
little man in a yellow hat mounted on a mule - that mule without
which the fate of Tom Corbin would have remained mysterious for
ever.
June, 1913.
BECAUSE OF THE DOLLARS
CHAPTER I
While we were hanging about near the water's edge, as sailors
Within the Tides |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: century ago, Dr. Heidegger had been on the point of marriage with
this young lady; but, being affected with some slight disorder,
she had swallowed one of her lover's prescriptions, and died on
the bridal evening. The greatest curiosity of the study remains
to be mentioned; it was a ponderous folio volume, bound in black
leather, with massive silver clasps. There were no letters on the
back, and nobody could tell the title of the book. But it was
well known to be a book of magic; and once, when a chambermaid
had lifted it, merely to brush away the dust, the skeleton had
rattled in its closet, the picture of the young lady had stepped
one foot upon the floor, and several ghastly faces had peeped
Twice Told Tales |
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 Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: the door, and finds it always shut!'
There was such a sense of home in the thought, that though her own
eyes overflowed she would not have obliterated the recollection of
it, either from her own mind or from his, for the wealth of the
whole wide world.
Chapter 47
In the exhaustless catalogue of Heaven's mercies to mankind, the
power we have of finding some germs of comfort in the hardest
trials must ever occupy the foremost place; not only because it
supports and upholds us when we most require to be sustained, but
because in this source of consolation there is something, we have
Barnaby Rudge |
