| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: household ways as he did her black alpaca dress; indeed, except
for that item of apparel, she was not so unlike himself. In
later years he had seen the women of society; he had heard them
talk; he had heard men talk about them, wittily or wickedly, at
the clubs; he had perceived that a good many of them wished to
marry him, and yet, after all, he knew no more of them than of
the rearing of humming-birds or orchids,--dainty, tropical
things which he allowed his gardener to raise, he keeping his
hands off, and only paying the bills. Whether there was in
existence a class of women who were both useful and
refined,--any intermediate type between the butterfly and 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 Charmides by Plato: prove beneficial, and when not? or must the craftsman necessarily know when
he is likely to be benefited, and when not to be benefited, by the work
which he is doing?
I suppose not.
Then, I said, he may sometimes do good or harm, and not know what he is
himself doing, and yet, in doing good, as you say, he has done temperately
or wisely. Was not that your statement?
Yes.
Then, as would seem, in doing good, he may act wisely or temperately, and
be wise or temperate, but not know his own wisdom or temperance?
But that, Socrates, he said, is impossible; and therefore if this is, as
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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 Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: again, and shedding that water out of the places she looks with.
I was obliged to return with her, but will presently emigrate again,
when occasion offers. She engages herself in many foolish things:
among others, trying to study out why the animals called lions and
tigers live on grass and flowers, when, as she says, the sort of
teeth they wear would indicate that they were intended to eat each
other. This is foolish, because to do that would be to kill each
other, and that would introduce what, as I understand it, is called
"death;" and death, as I have been told, has not yet entered the
Park. Which is a pity, on some accounts.
Sunday
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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 Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the
other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and Mammon.' So also writeth the beloved
Evangelist and Divine in his Epistle, thus saying, `Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is
in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that
doeth the will of God abideth for ever.'
"These things were well understood by our holy and inspired
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