| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: "My friend, who was this master of yours that bought you and
paid for you, so rich and so powerful as you tell me? You say he
perished in the cause of King Agamemnon; tell me who he was, in
case I may have met with such a person. Jove and the other gods
know, but I may be able to give you news of him, for I have
travelled much."
Eumaeus answered, "Old man, no traveller who comes here with
news will get Ulysses' wife and son to believe his story.
Nevertheless, tramps in want of a lodging keep coming with their
mouths full of lies, and not a word of truth; every one who
finds his way to Ithaca goes to my mistress and tells her
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: "You do," I agreed; "but your victory took you near to death."
"I owe my life to you, Petrie," he said. "Once to your strength of arm,
and once to--"
"Don't speak of her, Smith," I interrupted.
"Dr. Fu-Manchu may have discovered the part she played!
In which event--"
"God help her!"
CHAPTER XVI
UPON the following day we were afoot again, and shortly at handgrips with
the enemy. In retrospect, that restless time offers a chaotic prospect,
with no peaceful spot amid its turmoils.
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: the worthiest old ladies. Tolerant though she was, she was revolted
and maddened by a vague presentiment of coming ill, which frightened
her in the evenings as thoroughly as if a wild beast had escaped
from a menagerie and were known to be lurking in the countryside.
She began trying to pick a little quarrel with her guests, whom she
each and all accused of prowling round La Mignotte. Count
Vandeuvres had been seen laughing on the highroad with a golden-
haired lady, but he defended himself against the accusation; he
denied that it was Nana, the fact being that Lucy had been with him
and had told him how she had just turned her third prince out of
doors. The Marquis de Chouard used also to go out every day, but
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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 Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger: country can be increased at will, consider whether it is likely that
any physical, moral, or psychological change came over the nation co-
incidentally with the inventions of the spinning jenny and the steam
engine. It is too obvious for dispute that it was the possession of
capital wanting employment, and of natural advantages for using it,
that called those multitudes of human beings into existence, to eat
the food which they paid for by their labor.''[5]
But when child labor in the factories became such a scandal and such a
disgrace that child-labor was finally forbidden by laws that possessed
the advantage over our own that they were enforced, the proletariat
ceased to supply children. Almost by magic the birth rate among the
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