Today's Stichomancy for George S. Patton

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach:

Proverbs 24: 27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thy house.

Proverbs 24: 28 Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.

Proverbs 24: 29 Say not: 'I will do so to him as he hath done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.'

Proverbs 24: 30 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;

Proverbs 24: 31 And, lo, it was all grown over with thistles, the face thereof was covered with nettles, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.

Proverbs 24: 32 Then I beheld, and considered well; I saw, and received instruction.

Proverbs 24: 33 'Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep'--

Proverbs 24: 34 So shall thy poverty come as a runner, and thy want as an armed man.

Proverbs 25: 1 These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

Proverbs 25: 2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

Proverbs 25: 3 The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable.

The Tanach

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton:

intellectual and artistic Newland Archer felt himself distinctly the superior of these chosen specimens of old New York gentility; he had probably read more, thought more, and even seen a good deal more of the world, than any other man of the number. Singly they betrayed their inferiority; but grouped together they represented "New York," and the habit of masculine solidarity made him accept their doctrine on all the issues called moral. He instinctively felt that in this respect it would be troublesome--and also rather bad form--to strike out for himself.

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Before Adam by Jack London:

nearly resembled the children of the Folk than did the grown Fire People resemble the grown Folk.

Lop-Ear and I did not linger long. We saw some of the part-grown boys shooting with bow and arrow, and we sneaked back into the thicker forest and made our way to the river. And there we found a catamaran, a real catamaran, one evidently made by some Fire-Man. The two logs were small and straight, and were lashed together by means of tough roots and crosspieces of wood.

This time the idea occurred simultaneously to us. We

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 Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac:

darkness that already wrapped in gloom the arches, the vaulted ceilings, and the lateral chapels, always sombre, even at mid-day.

The crowd presented effects that were no less picturesque. Certain figures were so vaguely defined in the "chiaroscuro" that they seemed like phantoms; whereas others, standing in a full gleam of the scattered light, attracted attention like the principal heads in a picture. Some statues seemed animated, some men seemed petrified. Here and there eyes shone in the flutings of the columns, the floor reflected looks, the marbles spoke, the vaults re-echoed sighs, the edifice itself seemed endowed with life.

The existence of Peoples has no more solemn scenes, no moments more