| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: angle toward the cliff, and as I followed it I found that it
terminated a few feet above a narrow ledge which protruded
from the cliff's face at the entrance to a narrow cave.
As I approached the slightly more slender extremity of the branch
it bent beneath my weight until, as I balanced perilously
upon its outer tip, it swayed gently on a level with the
ledge at a distance of a couple of feet.
Five hundred feet below me lay the vivid scarlet carpet of
the valley; nearly five thousand feet above towered the mighty,
gleaming face of the gorgeous cliffs.
The cave that I faced was not one of those that I had
The Gods of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: "Listen, listen! . . . The thing is settled," said Ferragus to Henri.
The two friends listened intently, and heard some feeble cries which
might have aroused pity in the breast of a tiger.
"Your marquise did not think the sound would escape by the chimney,"
said the chief of the Devourers, with the laugh of a critic, enchanted
to detect a fault in a work of merit.
"We alone, we know how to provide for every contingency," said Henri.
"Wait for me. I want to see what is going on upstairs--I want to know
how their domestic quarrels are managed. By God! I believe she is
roasting her at a slow fire."
De Marsay lightly scaled the stairs, with which he was familiar, and
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: criminals and the semi-criminals. They are more or less predatory,
and are at present shepherded by the police and punished by the gaoler.
Their numbers cannot be ascertained with very great precision, but the
following figures are taken from the prison returns of 1889: --
The criminal classes of Great Britain, in round figures, sum up a total
of no less than 90,000 persons, made up as follows: --
Convict prisons contain.. .. .. .. .. .. 11,660 persons
Local prisons contain.. .. .. .. .. .. 20,883 ,,
Reformatories for children convicted of crime .. 1,270 ,,
Industrial schools for vagrant
and refractory children .. .. .. .. .. 21,413 ,,
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: The hall was full, not of students only, but of the most distinguished
men belonging to the clergy, the court, and the legal faculty. There
were some learned foreigners, too--soldiers and rich citizens. The
broad faces were there, with prominent brows and venerable beards,
which fill us with a sort of pious respect for our ancestors when we
see their portraits from the Middle Ages. Lean faces, too, with
burning, sunken eyes, under bald heads yellow from the labors of
futile scholasticism, contrasted with young and eager countenances,
grave faces, warlike faces, and the ruddy cheeks of the financial
class.
These lectures, dissertations, theses, sustained by the brightest
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