| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: afterwards, I did not have a chance to finish it.
The young fellow came in and sat down in a chair, putting his heels
on the top of another.
Pooty girl, - said he.
A fine young lady, - I replied.
Keeps a first-rate school, according to accounts, - said he, -
teaches all sorts of things, - Latin and Italian and music. Folks
rich once, - smashed up. She went right ahead as smart as if she'd
been born to work. That's the kind o' girl I go for. I'd marry
her, only two or three other girls would drown themselves, if I
did.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: the time would come when he, Joseph Stebbins,
would feel culpable at approaching any front door!
He touched the electric bell and stood close to the
door, so that he might not be discovered from the
windows. Presently the door opened the length
of a chain, and a fair girlish head appeared. She
was one of the girls who had been terrified by him
in the woods, but that he did not know. Now again
her eyes dilated and her pretty mouth rounded!
She gave a little cry and slammed the door in his
face, and he heard excited voices. Then he saw two
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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 The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: person following up the course of a stream, will always
ascend at a greater or less inclination: Mr. Gill, therefore,
was much astonished, when walking up the bed of this
ancient river, to find himself suddenly going down hill. He
imagined that the downward slope had a fall of about 40 or
50 feet perpendicular. We here have unequivocal evidence
that a ridge had been uplifted right across the old bed of a
stream. From the moment the river-course was thus arched,
the water must necessarily have been thrown back, and a new
channel formed. From that moment, also, the neighbouring
plain must have lost its fertilizing stream, and become a
The Voyage of the Beagle |
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 Sportsman by Xenophon: and besides all other familiar calls, if the chase be on a
hillside,[32] he can keep up their spirits with a constant "Well done,
good hounds! well done, good hounds! good hounds!" Or if any are at
fault, having overshot the line, he will call to them, "Back, hounds!
back, will you! try back!"
[32] Or, "if the chase sweeps over a mountain-side."
As soon as the hounds have got back to (where they missed) the
line,[33] he must cast them round, making many a circle to and fro;
and where the line fails, he should plant a stake[34] as a sign-post
to guide the eye, and so cast round the dogs from that point,[35] till
they have found the right scent, with coaxing and encouragement. As
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