| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: some fatal difficulty had occurred, and the letter contained his last
wishes and a sad farewell. The paper trembled in the old man's hand.
"This is the third day," cried the countess, rising and walking
hurriedly up and down.
"You have been very imprudent," said the merchant. "Why send Brigitte
to buy those provisions?"
"But he may arrive half-dead with hunger, exhausted, and--"
She could say no more.
"I am sure of my brother the mayor," said the old man. "I will see him
at once, and put him in your interests."
After talking with the mayor, the shrewd old man made visits on
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: on the umbo, or central knob. To the Jews, this seemed an evidence of
nothing short of idolatry. Antipas harangued them, while Vitellius,
who occupied a raised seat within the shadow of the colonnade, was
astonished at their fury. Tiberius had done well, he thought, to exile
four hundred of these people to Sardinia. Presently the Jews became so
violent that he ordered the shields to be removed.
Then the multitude surrounded the proconsul, imploring him to abolish
certain unjust laws, asking for privileges, or begging for alms. They
rent their clothing and jostled one another; and at last, in order to
drive them back, several slaves, armed with long staves, charged upon
them, striking right and left. Those nearest the gates made their
Herodias |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: than a week. The woman being in delicate health, the worst
results were feared.
Ivan, glad of a fresh opportunity to harass his neighbor, lodged
a formal complaint before the district-attorney, hoping to rid
himself forever of Gavryl by having him sent to Siberia.
On examining the complaint the district-attorney would not
consider it, as by that time the injured woman was walking about
and as well as ever.
Thus again Ivan was disappointed in obtaining his revenge, and,
not being satisfied with the district-attorney's decision, had
the case transferred to the court, where he used all possible
The Kreutzer Sonata |
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 Pupil by Henry James: their frocks themselves, and our young man felt appealed to to be
glad, in regard to Morgan's education, that, though it must
naturally be of the best, it didn't cost too much. After a little
he WAS glad, forgetting at times his own needs in the interest
inspired by the child's character and culture and the pleasure of
making easy terms for him.
During the first weeks of their acquaintance Morgan had been as
puzzling as a page in an unknown language - altogether different
from the obvious little Anglo-Saxons who had misrepresented
childhood to Pemberton. Indeed the whole mystic volume in which
the boy had been amateurishly bound demanded some practice in
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