| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: sharer of all virtues, the accomplice of all vices. Religion had
passed into science, into politics, into eloquence, into crimes, into
the flesh of the sick man and the poor man; it mounted thrones; it was
everywhere. These semi-learned observations will serve, perhaps, to
vindicate the truth of this study, certain details of which may
frighten the perfected morals of our age, which are, as everybody
knows, a trifle straitlaced.
At the moment when the chanting ceased and the last notes of the
organ, mingling with the vibrations of the loud "A-men" as it issued
from the strong chests of the intoning clergy, sent a murmuring echo
through the distant arches, and the hushed assembly were awaiting the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: choose the corruptible and perishable, the weak things of no
worth, rather than the incorruptible and everlasting, the
imperishable and endless, and, by the temporal enjoyment of these
things, to forfeit the eternal fruition of the happiness to come!
Wilt thou not understand this, my father? Wilt thou not haste
past the things which haste pass thee, and attach thyself to that
which endureth? Wilt thou not prefer a home land to a foreign
land, light to darkness, the spirit to the flesh, eternal life to
the shadow of death, the indestructible to the fleeting? Wilt
thou not escape from the grievous bondage of the cruel prince of
this world, I mean the evil one, the devil, and become 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 Dreams by Olive Schreiner: But still he looked. Then at length she opened her bosom and took out of
it one small flower she had hidden there, and laid it on the sand. She had
nothing more to give now, and she wandered away, and the grey sand whirled
about her.
IV. IN A FAR-OFF WORLD.
There is a world in one of the far-off stars, and things do not happen here
as they happen there.
In that world were a man and woman; they had one work, and they walked
together side by side on many days, and were friends--and that is a thing
that happens now and then in this world also.
But there was something in that star-world that there is not here. There
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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 The American by Henry James: add that he would not have maintained that such investments
were in themselves a proper ground for pretensions.
"I will make you do something," he said to Valentin;
"I will put you through. I know half a dozen things in which we
can make a place for you. You will see some lively work.
It will take you a little while to get used to the life,
but you will work in before long, and at the end of six months--
after you have done a thing or two on your own account--
you will like it. And then it will be very pleasant for you,
having your sister over there. It will be pleasant for her to
have you, too. Yes, Valentin," continued Newman, pressing his
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