| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: tragic affair was - I mean the patent medicine. Do you know?"
He named it, and I whistled respectfully. Nothing less than
Parker's Lively Lumbago Pills. Enormous property! You know it;
all the world knows it. Every second man, at least, on this globe
of ours has tried it.
"Why!" I cried, "they missed an immense fortune."
"Yes," he mumbled, "by the price of a revolver-shot."
He told me also that eventually Cloete returned to the States,
passenger in a cargo-boat from Albert Dock. The night before he
sailed he met him wandering about the quays, and took him home for
a drink. "Funny chap, Cloete. We sat all night drinking grogs,
Within the Tides |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: with those men; and though I must confess the conversion, as they
call it, of the Chinese to Christianity is so far from the true
conversion required to bring heathen people to the faith of Christ,
that it seems to amount to little more than letting them know the
name of Christ, and say some prayers to the Virgin Mary and her
Son, in a tongue which they understood not, and to cross
themselves, and the like; yet it must be confessed that the
religionists, whom we call missionaries, have a firm belief that
these people will be saved, and that they are the instruments of
it; and on this account they undergo not only the fatigue of the
voyage, and the hazards of living in such places, but oftentimes
Robinson Crusoe |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: employ themselves in making corn-brooms, mats,
horse-collars, and baskets; and another class of us
would spend the time in hunting opossums, hares,
and coons. But by far the larger part engaged in
such sports and merriments as playing ball, wres-
tling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and
drinking whisky; and this latter mode of spending
the time was by far the most agreeable to the feel-
ings of our masters. A slave who would work during
the holidays was considered by our masters as
scarcely deserving them. He was regarded as one
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
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 Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "They have not told you yet?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied. "They have told me, but it makes
no difference. You have given me the right to say it,
Bulan, and I do say it now again, before them all--
I love you, and that is all there is that makes
any difference."
A look of happiness lighted his face momentarily, only
to fade as quickly as it had come.
"No, Virginia," he said, sadly, "it would not be right.
It would be wicked. I am not a human being. I am only
a soulless monster. You cannot mate with such as I.
The Monster Men |
