| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: "Take it sensibly, Jessie. Why should we, who have so much in
common, quarrel into melodrama? I swear I love you. You are all
that is bright and desirable to me. I am stronger than you,
older; man to your woman. To find YOU too--conventional!"
She looked at him over her shoulder, and he noticed with a twinge
of delight how her little chin came out beneath the curve of her
cheek.
"MAN!" she said. "Man to MY woman! Do MEN lie? Would a MAN use
his five and thirty years' experience to outwit a girl of
seventeen? Man to my woman indeed! That surely is the last
insult!"
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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 Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: the violence of which became sufficiently alarming for the physician
who attended him to take all precautions against the symptoms now
appearing of brain fever: bleeding, cupping, leeches, and ice to his
head; these were the agreeable finale to his dream of love. We must
hasten to add, however, that this violent crisis in the physical led
to a perfect cure of the mental being. The barrister came out of his
illness with no other sentiment than cold contempt for the treacherous
Hungarian, a sentiment which did not even rise to a desire for
vengeance.
CHAPTER IX
GIVE AND TAKE
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: him no attention--a rough American bound for the mines was but an object
of aversion to them.
The Padre, of course, had been instantly aware of the stranger's
presence. To be aware of unaccustomed presences is the sixth sense with
vicars of every creed and heresy; and if the parish is lonely and the
worshipers few and seldom varying, a newcomer will gleam out like a new
book to be read. And a trained priest learns to read keenly the faces of
those who assemble to worship under his guidance. But American vagrants,
with no thoughts save of gold-digging, and an overweening illiterate
jargon for speech, had long ceased to interest this priest, even in his
starvation for company and talk from the outside world; and therefore
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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 A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: to all eternity!
MONTREUIL.
I HAD once lost my portmanteau from behind my chaise, and twice got
out in the rain, and one of the times up to the knees in dirt, to
help the postilion to tie it on, without being able to find out
what was wanting. - Nor was it till I got to Montreuil, upon the
landlord's asking me if I wanted not a servant, that it occurred to
me, that that was the very thing.
A servant! That I do most sadly, quoth I. - Because, Monsieur,
said the landlord, there is a clever young fellow, who would be
very proud of the honour to serve an Englishman. - But why an
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