| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: antelope, arms white as alabaster, and of the most graceful and
perfectly-formed shapes, while the heart of the reader beats and
grows faint, as did that of the happy Gaspard Debaran, the clown,
who, when on the highest step of his ladder, was enabled to peep
into the Seraglio of Constantinople--that recess concealed from
the inspection of man. Sometimes also the reader may imagine
himself indolently stretched on a carpet of Persian softness,
luxuriously smoking the yellow tobacco of Turkistan through a
long tube of jessamine and amber, while a black slave fans him
with a fan of peacock's feathers, and a little boy presents him
with a cup of genuine Mocha. Goethe has put these enchanting and
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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 Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: enough that he might be carried thousands of miles in the box-
car, locked in, perhaps, without water or food. I had read of
cases where bodies had been found locked in cars on isolated
sidings in the west, and my spirits went down with every hour.
His recovery was destined to be almost as sudden as his
disappearance, and was due directly to the tramp Alex had brought
to Sunnyside. It seems the man was grateful for his release, and
when he learned some thing of Halsey's whereabouts from another
member of his fraternity--for it is a fraternity--he was prompt
in letting us know.
On Wednesday evening Mr. Jamieson, who had been down at the
The Circular Staircase |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland:
"Now you be horse."
The older was not yet inclined to be horse, and tried in
vain, by coaxing, scolding and whipping, to induce him to
move, but the horse was firm. The driver was also firm, and not
until the horse in a very unhorselike manner, gave away to tears,
could the man be induced to let himself down to the level of a
horse. From all of which it will be seen that the disposition of
Chinese children is no exception to that longing for superiority
which prevails in every human heart.
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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 Recruit by Honore de Balzac: the shop of a weaver, who was still at work. From him he inquired his
way to the mayor's house, and the way-worn recruit soon found himself
seated in the porch of that establishment, waiting for the billet he
had asked for. Instead of receiving it at once, he was summoned to the
mayor's presence, where he found himself the object of minute
observation. The young man was good-looking, and belonged, evidently,
to a distinguished family. His air and manner were those of the
nobility. The intelligence of a good education was in his face.
"What is your name?" asked the mayor, giving him a shrewd and meaning
look.
"Julien Jussieu."
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