| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: labour, the work of the proletarians has lost all individual
character, and consequently, all charm for the workman. He
becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most
simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is
required of him. Hence, the cost of production of a workman is
restricted, almost entirely, to the means of subsistence that he
requires for his maintenance, and for the propagation of his
race. But the price of a commodity, and therefore also of
labour, is equal to its cost of production. In proportion
therefore, as the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage
decreases. Nay more, in proportion as the use of machinery and
The Communist Manifesto |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: glass.
Presently the man on Morris's verandah and the man of the house
boat ceased to scrutinize each other and both turned their
glasses upon the Jasper B. But the moment they perceived that
Cleggett was provided with a glass each turned hastily and
entered, the one Morris's place, and the other the cabin of the
house boat. But Cleggett had already recognized the man at
Morris's as the stoop-shouldered man of tall stature and fanciful
dress who had tried to stare him down some days before.
As for the man on the house boat (which, as Cleggett had made
out, was named the Annabel Lee), there was something vaguely
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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 The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: rich or who is poor, provided that there is a constant quantity of
rich people to be taxed? Joint-stock companies, limited liability
companies, every sort of enterprise that pays a dividend, has been
carried on for twenty years in England, commercially the first country
in the world. Nothing passes unchallenged there; the Houses of
Parliament hatch some twelve hundred laws every session, yet no member
of Parliament has ever yet raised an objection to the system----"
"A cure for plethora of the strong box. Purely vegetable remedy," put
in Bixiou, "les carottes" (gambling speculation).
"Look here!" cried Couture, firing up at this. "You have ten thousand
francs. You invest it in ten shares of a thousand francs each in ten
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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 The Voice of the City by O. Henry: brought Miss Rosalie Ray, for each of two years.
She did other things during her twelve minutes -- a
song and dance, imitations of two or three actors who
are but imitations of themselves, and a balancing
feat with a step-ladder and feather-duster; but when
the blossom-decked swing was let down from the flies,
and Miss Rosalie sprang smiling into the seat, with
the golden circlet conspicuous in the place whence it
was soon to slide and become a soaring and coveted
guerdon -- then it was that the audience rose in its
seat as a single man -- or presumably so -- and in-
The Voice of the City |
