| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: the Order of the Golden Fleece. I had no idea that anything in
the shape of a horse could be so limp as that, either living or
dead. His wild mane hung down lumpily, a mere mass of inanimate
horsehair; his aggressive ears had collapsed, but as he went
swaying slowly across the front of the bridge I noticed an astute
gleam in his dreamy, half-closed eye. A trustworthy
quartermaster, his glance anxious and his mouth on the broad
grin, was easing over the derrick watchfully. I superintended,
greatly interested.
"So! That will do."
The derrick-head stopped. The kalashes lined the rail. The rope
Some Reminiscences |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: desires were so graciously expressed, that his cause was always won
before he opened his mouth to speak. This unlucky gift of fortune, if
it is the salvation of some, is the ruin of many more. Lucien and his
like find a world predisposed in favor of youth and good looks, and
ready to protect those who give it pleasure with the selfish good-
nature that flings alms to a beggar, if he appeals to the feelings and
awakens emotion; and in this favor many a grown child is content to
bask instead of putting it to a profitable use. With mistaken notions
as to the significance and the motive of social relations they imagine
that they shall always meet with deceptive smiles; and so at last the
moment comes for them when the world leaves them bald, stripped bare,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: [25] Lit. "in order not to be seen of him."
[26] Lit. "good with respect to her."
[27] Or, "to those toils and that training."
XIII
Now what astonishes me in the "sophists," as they are called,[1] is,
that though they profess, the greater part of them, to lead the young
to virtue, they really lead them in the opposite direction. Never have
we set eyes on the man anywhere who owed his goodness to the sophists
of to-day.[2] Nor do their writings contain anything[3] calculated to
make men good, but they have written volumes on vain and frivolous
subjects, in which the young may find pleasures that pall, but the
|
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 Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: admiration and envy centered on her, with so much eagerness that the
young creature, abashed by a triumph she seemed to disclaim, modestly
looked down, blushed, and was all the more charming. When she raised
her white eyelids it was to look at her ravished partner as though she
wished to transfer the glory of this admiration to him, and to say
that she cared more for his than for all the rest. She threw her
innocence into her vanity; or rather she seemed to give herself up to
the guileless admiration which is the beginning of love, with the good
faith found only in youthful hearts. As she danced, the lookers-on
might easily believe that she displayed her grace for Martial alone;
and though she was modest, and new to the trickery of the ballroom,
|
