| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: imagination and common language to that of opinion and reflection the human
mind was exposed to many dangers, and often
'Found no end in wandering mazes lost.'
On the other hand, the discovery of abstractions was the great source of
all mental improvement in after ages. It was the pushing aside of the old,
the revelation of the new. But each one of the company of abstractions, if
we may speak in the metaphorical language of Plato, became in turn the
tyrant of the mind, the dominant idea, which would allow no other to have a
share in the throne. This is especially true of the Eleatic philosophy:
while the absoluteness of Being was asserted in every form of language, the
sensible world and all the phenomena of experience were comprehended under
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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 Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: ful but far from morose. His spirits were unquenchable.
"I am afraid," he said, "that I shall have to replace
James. His defection is unforgivable, and he has mis-
placed the finger-bowls."
The youth and the girl forced wan smiles; but neither
spoke. Bridge drew a pouch of tobacco and some papers
from an inside pocket.
"'I had the makings and I smoked
"'And wondered over different things,
"'Thinkin' as how this old world joked
"'In callin' only some men kings
The Oakdale Affair |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: SAMOA HAS BEEN ASSUMED BY KING TUIAANA TAMASESE. (2) BY ORDER OF
THE KING, IT WAS DIRECTED THAT A FONO SHOULD TAKE PLACE TO-DAY,
COMPOSED OF THE CHIEFS AND HEADS OF FAMILIES, AND WE HAVE OBEYED
THE SUMMONS. WE HAVE SIGNED OUR NAMES UNDER THIS, 15TH SEPTEMBER
1887." Needs must under all these guns; and the paper was signed,
but not without open sullenness. The bearing of Mataafa in
particular was long remembered against him by the Germans. "Do you
not see the king?" said the commodore reprovingly. "His father was
no king," was the bold answer. A bolder still has been printed,
but this is Mataafa's own recollection of the passage. On the next
day, the chiefs were all ordered back to shake hands with Tamasese.
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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 Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: piece was a fine miniature portrait of Charles X., by Madame Mirbel,
beneath which were engraved the words, "Given by the King"; and, as a
pendant, the portrait of "Madame", who was always her kind friend. On
a table lay an album of costliest price, such as none of the
bourgeoises who now lord it in our industrial and fault-finding
society would have dared to exhibit. This album contained portraits,
about thirty in number, of her intimate friends, whom the world, first
and last, had given her as lovers. The number was a calumny; but had
rumor said ten, it might have been, as her friend Madame d'Espard
remarked, good, sound gossip. The portraits of Maxime de Trailles, de
Marsay, Rastignac, the Marquis d'Esgrignon, General Montriveau, the
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