| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: only I would seek, where only I can succor you."--"You, demon!"--
"Demon!--Harsh words!--Was it a demon or a human being placed you
here?--Listen to me, Stanton; nay, wrap not yourself in that
miserable blanket,--that cannot shut out my words. Believe me,
were you folded in thunder clouds, you must hear ME! Stanton,
think of your misery. These bare walls--what do they present to
the intellect or to the senses?--Whitewash, diversified with the
scrawls of charcoal or red chalk, that your happy predecessors have
left for you to trace over. You have a taste for drawing--I trust
it will improve. And here's a grating, through which the sun
squints on you like a stepdame, and the breeze blows, as if it
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: the paper to read the entertaining and instructive Fables, "I know
the Heathenese lingo. Ying Shing means Rock Creek; it is in the
Province of Wyo Ming."
A Ship and a Man
SEEING a ship sailing by upon the sea of politics, an Ambitious
Person started in hot pursuit along the strand; but the people's
eyes being fixed upon the Presidency no one observed the pursuer.
This greatly annoyed him, and recollecting that he was not aquatic,
he stopped and shouted across the waves' tumultous roar:
"Take my name off the passenger list."
Back to him over the waters, hollow and heartless, like laughter in
Fantastic Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: the brass plate between decks to remind me that I had once been a
gentleman. In a former book, describing a former journey, I
expressed some wonder that I could be readily and naturally taken for
a pedlar, and explained the accident by the difference of language
and manners between England and France. I must now take a humbler
view; for here I was among my own countrymen, somewhat roughly clad
to be sure, but with every advantage of speech and manner; and I am
bound to confess that I passed for nearly anything you please except
an educated gentleman. The sailors called me 'mate,' the officers
addressed me as 'my man,' my comrades accepted me without hesitation
for a person of their own character and experience, but with some
|
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 Common Sense by Thomas Paine: and burthens of the present day. We are endeavoring, and will steadily
continue to endeavour, to separate and dissolve a connexion which hath
already filled our land with blood; and which, while the name of it
remains, will he the fatal cause of future mischiefs to both countries.
We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor
passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, nor
ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own vines are
we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is the violence
committed against us. We view our enemies in the character of Highwaymen
and Housebreakers, and having no defence for ourselves in the civil law,
are obliged to punish them by the military one, and apply the sword,
Common Sense |
