| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: him. Last year, when he came, they heard him "up and down
the road a hollerin' and a raisin' Cain." And at last he had
to come to the Hansons in despair, and bid Rufe, "Jump into
your pants and shoes, and show me where this old mine is,
anyway!" Seeing that Ronalds had laid out so much money in
the spot, and that a beaten road led right up to the bottom
of the clump, I thought this a remarkable example. The sense
of locality must be singularly in abeyance in the case of
Ronalds.
That same evening, supper comfortably over, Joe Strong busy
at work on a drawing of the dump and the opposite hills, we
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll: With yellow kid gloves and a ruff--
Said he felt it exactly like going to dine,
Which the Bellman declared was all "stuff."
"Introduce me, now there's a good fellow," he said,
"If we happen to meet it together!"
And the Bellman, sagaciously nodding his head,
Said "That must depend on the weather."
The Beaver went simply galumphing about,
At seeing the Butcher so shy:
And even the Baker, though stupid and stout,
Made an effort to wink with one eye.
The Hunting of the Snark |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: After the Emperor had dismissed two conservative vice-presidents
of a Board, two governors of provinces, and a half dozen other
useless conservative leaders, they plotted to overthrow him by
appealing to the ambition of the Empress Dowager and induce her
to dethrone him and again assume the reins of government. They
argued that "he was her adopted son, it was she who had placed
him on the throne, and she was therefore responsible for his
mistakes." They complimented her on "the wisdom which she had
manifested, and the statesmanship she had exhibited" during the
thirty years and more of her regency. To all which she listened
with a greedy ear, but still she made no move.
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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 Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: yet he could go backwards and forwards just as he pleased: he
had good luck! Why, the very vilest cur, yelping there in the
gutter, had not lived his life, had been free to act out
whatever thought God had put into his brain; while he--No, he
would not think of that! He tried to put the thought away, and
to listen to a dispute between a countryman and a woman about
some meat; but it would come back. He, what had he done to bear
this?
Then came the sudden picture of what might have been, and now.
He knew what it was to be in the penitentiary, how it went with
men there. He knew how in these long years he should slowly
Life in the Iron-Mills |
