| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: Church and State, a prince of the House of Israel. Ten talents
had been
given him, and he had made them twenty. His reward would be
proportionate.
He was glad that his companions were going to find fit dwellings
prepared for them; but he thought also with a certain pleasure of
the surprise that some of them would feel when they saw
his appointed mansion.
So they came to the summit of the moorland and looked over into
the world beyond. It was a vast, green plain, softly rounded
like
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: above the edge of our place of shelter scouted all round the
compass. The dawn had come quite, clear; we could see the stony
sides of the valley, and its bottom, which was bestrewed with
rocks, and the river, which went from one side to another, and
made white falls; but nowhere the smoke of a house, nor any
living creature but some eagles screaming round a cliff.
Then at last Alan smiled.
"Ay" said he, "now we have a chance;" and then looking at me with
some amusement. "Ye're no very gleg[25] at the jumping," said he.
[25]Brisk.
At this I suppose I coloured with mortification, for he added at
Kidnapped |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: it? He wanted to take a length of old stream-cable and
a kedge-anchor with him in the long-boat. We said,
'Ay, ay, sir,' deferentially, and on the quiet let the
thing slip overboard. The heavy medicine-chest went
that way, two bags of green coffee, tins of paint--fancy,
paint!--a whole lot of things. Then I was ordered with
two hands into the boats to make a stowage and get them
ready against the time it would be proper for us to leave
the ship.
"We put everything straight, stepped the long-boat's
mast for our skipper, who was in charge of her, and I
Youth |
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 Purse by Honore de Balzac: Lebrun, in frames with the gilding rubbed off were symmetrically
arranged on the walls. In the middle stood a massive mahogany
table, old-fashioned in shape, and worn at the edges. A small
stove, whose thin straight pipe was scarcely visible, stood in
front of the chimney-place, but the hearth was occupied by a
cupboard. By a strange contrast the chairs showed some remains of
former splendor; they were of carved mahogany, but the red
morocco seats, the gilt nails and reeded backs, showed as many
scars as an old sergeant of the Imperial Guard.
This room did duty as a museum of certain objects, such as are
never seen but in this kind of amphibious household; nameless
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