| 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: for entire originality in that speech of mine. That men are
cowards in the contemplation of futurity he illustrates by the
extraordinary antics of many on board the sinking vessel; that they
are fools, by their praying to the sea, and making promises to bits
of wood from the true cross, and all manner of similar nonsense;
that they are fools, cowards, and liars all at once, by this story:
I will put it into rough English for you. - "I couldn't help
laughing to hear one fellow bawling out, so that he might be sure
to be heard, a promise to Saint Christopher of Paris - the
monstrous statue in the great church there - that he would give him
a wax taper as big as himself. 'Mind what you promise!' said an
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 Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: that Bowen J. Tyler, Jr., and Miss La Rue had been missing even
longer than he and that no faintest trace of them had been discovered.
Olson told him of how the Germans had returned and waited in
ambush for them outside the fort, capturing them that they might
be used to assist in the work of refining the oil and later in
manning the U-33, and Plesser told briefly of the experiences of
the German crew under von Schoenvorts since they had escaped from
Caspak months before--of how they lost their bearings after
having been shelled by ships they had attempted to sneak farther
north and how at last with provisions gone and fuel almost
exhausted they had sought and at last found, more by accident
Out of Time's Abyss |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: lovely bride--but a fury--a wild she-devil, who, seated in an
armchair, refuses her share of her lord's couch, and sits defiantly
before the fire warming at the same time her ire and her calves. The
good husband, quite astonished, kneels down gently before her,
inviting her to the first passage of arms in that charming battle
which heralds a first night of love; but she utters not a word, and
when he tries to raise her garment, only just to glance at the charms
that have cost him so dear, she gives him a slap that makes his bones
rattle, and refuses to utter a syllable.
This amusement, however, by no means displeased our friend the
advocate, who saw at the end of his troubles that which you can as
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
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 A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: or sufficiency of proof . . . it only asks you one question:
`Have you an inward conviction?'" "If," he said, "the actual
traces of poison are a material proof of murder by poison, then a
new paragraph must be added to the Criminal Code--`Since,
however, vegetable poisons leave no trace, poisoning by such
means may be committed with impunity.'" To poisoners he would
say in future: "Bunglers that you are, don't use arsenic or any
mineral poison; they leave traces; you will be found out. Use
vegetable poisons; poison your fathers, poison your mothers,
poison all your families, and their inheritance will be yours--
fear nothing; you will go unpunished! You have committed
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
