| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Complete Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Mysterious and by torments mayest confess
That he alone is God.
ANTIOCHUS.
Ye both shall perish
By torments worse than any that your God,
Here or hereafter, hath in store for me.
THE MOTHER.
My Sirion, I am proud of thee!
ANTIOCHUS.
Be silent!
Go to thy bed of torture in yon chamber,
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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 Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: as we walk over. And, I say, is he safe in the streets? Mullins
has been marching his men up here this afternoon. There's a
constable stuck by every lamp-post, and every second person we meet
between this and Palace Yard is an obvious `tec.' It will get on
his nerves presently. I say, these foreign scoundrels aren't
likely to throw something at him - are they? It would be a
national calamity. The country can't spare him."
"Not to mention yourself. He leans on your arm," suggested the
Assistant Commissioner soberly. "You would both go."
"It would be an easy way for a young man to go down into history?
Not so many British Ministers have been assassinated as to make it
The Secret Agent |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: gulches that led to the canon; and many a cow, followed by its
calf, had stumbled forward to the herd and apparently accepted
the inevitable. But before Helen Messiter had well started out of
the canyon's mouth the situation changed absolutely.
A big hill steer, which had not seen a man for a year, broke
through the human corral with a bellow near a point where Reddy
kept guard. The puncher wheeled and gave chase, Before the other
men could close the opening a couple of two-year-olds seized the
opportunity and followed its lead. A second rider gave chase, and
at once, as if some imp of mischief had stirred them, fifty tails
went up in wild flight. Another minute and the whole herd was in
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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 Enemies of Books by William Blades: as well as the rubbish of past ages, until, probably, not one
thousandth part of the books that have been are still extant.
This destruction cannot, however, be reckoned as all loss;
for had not the "cleansing fires" removed mountains of rubbish from
our midst, strong destructive measures would have become a necessity
from sheer want of space in which to store so many volumes.
Before the invention of Printing, books were comparatively scarce;
and, knowing as we do, how very difficult it is, even after
the steam-press has been working for half a century, to make
a collection of half a million books, we are forced to receive
with great incredulity the accounts in old writers of the wonderful
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