| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: opinions she hated, but whom she was bound to care for with dutiful
tenderness. Often she walked with the angels when du Bousquier ate her
preserves or thought the dinner good. She watched to see that his
slightest wish was satisfied. If he tore off the cover of his
newspaper and left it on a table, instead of throwing it away, she
would say:--
"Rene, leave that where it is; monsieur did not place it there without
intention."
If du Bousquier had a journey to take, she was anxious about his
trunk, his linen; she took the most minute precautions for his
material benefit. If he went to Prebaudet, she consulted the barometer
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: commandant, to say that whatever the former deputation had proposed
he, on his side, was ready to endorse. Accordingly Dercylidas, who, it
so happened, had at length obtained favourable omens on that day,
marched his force without more ado up to the gates of the city, which
were flung open by those within; and so he entered.[18] Here, then, he
was content to appoint a garrison, and without further stay advanced
upon Scepsis and Gergithes.
[18] Grote ("H. G." ix. 294) says: "The reader will remark how
Xenophon shapes the narrative in such a manner as to inculcate the
pious duty in a general of obeying the warnings furnished by the
sacrifice--either for action or for inaction. . . . Such an
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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 Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: returned on Thursday with coach, horses, and William her coachman.
That matter being finished, and the trunks being unpacked, she
decided to take her first bath in the sea, expecting me to support
her through the trying ordeal of the surf. As we were returning
from the beach we met a carriage containing a number of persons
with a family resemblance.
When Aunt Eliza saw them she angrily exclaimed, "Am I to see
those Uxbridges every day?"
Of the Uxbridges this much I knew--that the two brothers Uxbridge
were the lawyers of her opponents in the lawsuit which had existed
three or four years. I had never felt any interest in it, though I
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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 Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: fairly convulsed with passion. The great veins stood out upon his
temples like knotted whipcords, and when he spoke his voice was
more a breathless snarl than the voice of a Christian man.
"Ye'll have the law, will ye?" said he. "Ye'll--have the law,
will ye? You're afeared to go to law--Levi West--you try th'
law--and see how ye like it. Who 're you to call me thief--ye
bloody, murderin' villain ye! You're the thief--Levi West--you
come here and stole my daddy from me ye did. You make me
ruin--myself to pay what oughter to been mine then--ye ye steal
the gal I was courtin', to boot." He stopped and his lips rithed
for words to say. "I know ye," said he, grinding his teeth. "I
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
