| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: ``And we will talk to Sister Theckla, and she will tell us all that
she knows, and then--God willing--we shall know all.''
The lady said: ``Yes, we will all go together. We will go at once.''
And so it was that when Sister Theckla had told all that she knew,
then the lady knew (as she always had said she had known), past all
doubting, that Bessie Bell had really found what she most wished
for.
But we do not know how long it was before Bessie Bell really
understood that the Wisest Woman in the world, who knew what little
girls had almost forgotten how to remember, was her own Mother.
* * *
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: afterwards too!
You are leaving one convent to enter another. I know you; you are a
coward, and you will submit to the yoke of family life with a lamblike
docility. But I am here to direct you; you must come to Paris. There
we shall drive the men wild and hold a court like queens. Your
husband, sweetheart, in three years from now may become a member of
the Chamber. I know all about members now, and I will explain it to
you. You will work that machine very well; you can live in Paris, and
become there what my mother calls a woman of fashion. Oh! you needn't
suppose I will leave you in your grange!
Monday.
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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 Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: frequent visits to the town? The gentleman also made searching
inquiries concerning the hygienic condition of the countryside. Was
there, he asked, much sickness about--whether sporadic fever, fatal
forms of ague, smallpox, or what not? Yet, though his solicitude
concerning these matters showed more than ordinary curiosity, his
bearing retained its gravity unimpaired, and from time to time he blew
his nose with portentous fervour. Indeed, the manner in which he
accomplished this latter feat was marvellous in the extreme, for,
though that member emitted sounds equal to those of a trumpet in
intensity, he could yet, with his accompanying air of guileless
dignity, evoke the waiter's undivided respect--so much so that,
Dead Souls |
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 Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: like some big box er crate was bein' opened fur off. What with
this an' that, he didn't git to sleep at all till sunup, an' no
sooner was he up this mornin', but he's got to go over to Whateley's
an' see what's the matter. He see enough I tell ye, Mis' Corey!
This dun't mean no good, an' I think as all the men-folks ought
to git up a party an' do suthin'. I know suthin' awful's abaout,
an' feel my time is nigh, though only Gawd knows jest what it
is.
'Did your Luther take accaount o' whar them big tracks led
tew? No? Wal, Mis' Corey, ef they was on the glen rud this side
o' the glen, an' ain't got to your haouse yet, I calc'late they
The Dunwich Horror |
