| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: everything. There are no trees. Fragments of wreckage or old vessels
that are broken up are sold to those who can afford to buy; for costs
of transportation are too heavy to allow them to use the firewood with
which Brittany abounds. This region is fine for none but noble souls;
persons without sentiments could never live here; poets and barnacles
alone should inhabit it. All that ever brought a population to this
rock were the salt-marshes and the factory which prepares the salt. On
one side the sea; on the other, sand; above, illimitable space."
We had now passed the town, and had reached the species of desert
which separates Croisic from the village of Batz. Imagine, my dear
uncle, a barren track of miles covered with the glittering sand of the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri: 1858 62 ... ... ... 25 ... ... ... 34
1863-7 ... ... ... 24 ... ... ... 31
1868-72 ... ... ... 26 ... ... ... 24
1873-7 ... ... ... 25 ... ... ... 21
1878-82 ... ... ... 24 ... ... ... 21
1883-7 ... ... ... 22 ... ... ... 20
Here also it appears that the growth of crime in England, though
less than in France, is not due to the weakening of judicial
severity through the greater number of acquittals. The number
has, in fact, constantly diminished, especially in summary
proceedings, which is just where the greatest increase of crime is
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: ourselves, when one sees a Minard, that gilded pot, displaying himself
at the Tuileries, and complimenting the king, and a Popinot about to
become a minister of State, and then look at you! a man trained to
administrative work, a man with thirty years' experience, who has seen
six governments, left to plant balsams in a little garden! Heavens and
earth!--I am frank, my dear Thuillier, and I'll say, honestly, that I
want to advance you, because you'll draw me after you. Well, here's my
plan. We are soon to elect a member of the council-general from this
arrondissement; and that member must be you. And," he added, dwelling
on the word, "it WILL be you! After that, you will certainly be deputy
from the arrondissement when the Chamber is re-elected, which must
|
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 Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: his shaggy coat and laid it on the grass and dived head first into the
Truth Pond.
When he came up the donkey head had disappeared, and the shaggy man's
own shaggy head was in its place, with the water dripping in little
streams from his shaggy whiskers. He scrambled ashore and shook
himself to get off some of the wet, and then leaned over the pool to
look admiringly at his reflected face.
"I may not be strictly beautiful, even now," he said to his
companions, who watched him with smiling faces; "but I'm so much
handsomer than any donkey that I feel as proud as I can be."
"You're all right, Shaggy Man," declared Dorothy. "And Button-Bright
The Road to Oz |
