| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: quite content with such orders as came to them from their remaining
customers.
In the long length the Cointets had come to understand David's
character and habits. They did not slander him now; on the contrary,
wise policy required that they should allow the business to flicker
on; it was to their interest indeed to maintain it in a small way,
lest it should fall into the hands of some more formidable competitor;
they made a practice of sending prospectuses and circulars--job-
printing, as it is called--to the Sechard's establishment. So it came
about that, all unwittingly, David owed his existence, commercially
speaking, to the cunning schemes of his competitors. The Cointets,
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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 Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: Eschara, Cellaria, Crisia, and others) agree in having singular
moveable organs (like those of Flustra avicularia, foun
in the European seas) attached to their cells. The organ, i
the greater number of cases, very closely resembles the hea
of a vulture; but the lower mandible can be opened muc
wider than in a real bird's beak. The head itself possesse
considerable powers of movement, by means of a short neck
In one zoophyte the head itself was fixed, but the lower ja
free: in another it was replaced by a triangular hood, with
beautifully-fitted trap-door, which evidently answered to th
lower mandible. In the greater number of species, each cel
The Voyage of the Beagle |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: asked.
We find that error by excess is exemplified by every saintly
virtue. Excess, in human faculties, means usually one-sidedness
or want of balance; for it is hard to imagine an essential
faculty too strong, if only other faculties equally strong be
there to cooperate with it in action. Strong affections need a
strong will; strong active powers need a strong intellect; strong
intellect needs strong sympathies, to keep life steady. If the
balance exist, no one faculty can possibly be too strong--we only
get the stronger all-round character. In the life of saints,
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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 Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: sure it was nothing more--with the young artist--Mrs. Poulton
believed Mr. Harris would understand who was meant--was exciting a
good deal of comment in the station, and WOULD dear Mr. Harris
please write to Dora himself, as Mrs. Poulton was beginning to feel
so responsible?
I saw the letter; Harris showed it to me when he sat down to
breakfast with the long face of a man in a domestic difficulty, and
we settled together whom we should ask to put his daughter up in
Calcutta. It should be the wife of a man in his own department of
course; it is to one's Deputy Secretary that one looks for succour
at times like this; and naturally one never looks in vain. Mrs.
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