| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: "My poor Harry! there is no reasoning with a madman,"
replied the engineer. "Of course it is better to know your
enemy than not; but you must not fancy all is right because we
have found out who he is. We must be on our guard, my friends;
and to begin with, Harry, you positively must question Nell.
She will perceive that her silence is no longer reasonable.
Even for her grandfather's own interest, she ought to speak now.
For his own sake, as well as for ours, these insane plots must
be put a stop to."
"I feel sure, Mr. Starr," answered Harry, "that Nell will
of herself propose to tell you what she knows. You see it
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: the early days we could run up a log cabin in a jiffy. Axes, horses, strong
arms, and a few pegs--that was all we needed. But this house you've planned
is different. It's good you've come to take the responsibility."
Carley had chosen the site for her home on top of the knoll where Glenn had
taken her to show her the magnificent view of mountains and desert. Carley
climbed it now with beating heart and mingled emotions. A thousand times
already that day, it seemed, she had turned to gaze up at the noble
white-clad peaks. They were closer now, apparently looming over her, and
she felt a great sense of peace and protection in the thought that they
would always be there. But she had not yet seen the desert that had haunted
her for a year. When she reached the summit of the knoll and gazed out
The Call of the Canyon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: persons, besides the king: neither are those coun-
sels unprosperous; for, besides the secrecy, they
conunonly go on constantly, in one spirit of direc-
tion, without distraction. But then it must be a
prudent king, such as is able to grind with a hand-
mill; and those inward counsellors had need also
be wise men, and especially true and trusty to the
king's ends; as it was with King Henry the Seventh
of England, who, in his great business, imparted
himself to none, except it were to Morton and Fox.
For weakening of authority; the fable showeth
Essays of Francis Bacon |
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 Intentions by Oscar Wilde: those days the artist was free. From the river valley he took the
fine clay in his fingers, and with a little tool of wood or bone,
fashioned it into forms so exquisite that the people gave them to
the dead as their playthings, and we find them still in the dusty
tombs on the yellow hillside by Tanagra, with the faint gold and
the fading crimson still lingering about hair and lips and raiment.
On a wall of fresh plaster, stained with bright sandyx or mixed
with milk and saffron, he pictured one who trod with tired feet the
purple white-starred fields of asphodel, one 'in whose eyelids lay
the whole of the Trojan War,' Polyxena, the daughter of Priam; or
figured Odysseus, the wise and cunning, bound by tight cords to the
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