| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: battle would be sanguinary in character, and, true to his
humanitarian ideals, was resolved to be fully prepared this time
to care for as many people as he might disable. Giuseppe Jones,
who was quieter now, although at times still irrationally
babbling incendiary vers libre poems, was removed to the Annabel
Lee, where Miss Medley, quite worn out, turned him over to a
fresh nurse.
By the time the reinforcement of nurses had arrived the
earthworks of the good ship Jasper B. were completed, and, after
a double portion of stiff grog all around, Cleggett ordered all
hands to lie down on the deck for an hour's comfortable nap. He
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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 Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: sleep with Drummond's Spiritual Life.
"That wasn't a woman, Miss Rachel," she said, with her shoes in
her hand. "It was a man in a long coat."
"What woman was a man?" I discouraged her without looking up,
and she went back to the couch.
It was eleven o'clock when I finally prepared for bed. In
spite of my assumption of indifference, I locked the door into
the hall, and finding the transom did not catch, I put a chair
cautiously before the door--it was not necessary to rouse Liddy--
and climbing up put on the ledge of the transom a small dressing-
mirror, so that any movement of the frame would send it crashing
The Circular Staircase |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: has reached its destination and dropped to within
a hundred yards of the ground, the mechanism brings her
to a full stop, at the same time sounding a loud alarm
which will instantly awaken the pilot. You see I have
anticipated almost every contingency."
Thuvan Dihn smiled his appreciation of the marvellous device.
The forward servant pushed almost to the flier's side.
His eyes were narrowed to slits.
"All but one," he said.
The nobles looked at him in astonishment, and one
of them grasped the fellow none too gently by the
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
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 Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: retreats, busy with his business, and devoted to him just so long as
their illusions last, or until the moment when they have got all they
wanted. Some of these satellites perceive the ingratitude of their
great man; others feel that they are simply made tools of; many weary
of the life; very few remain contented with that sweet equality of
feeling and sentiment which is the only reward that should be looked
for in an intimacy with a superior man,--a reward that contented Ali
when Mohammed raised him to himself.
Many of these men, misled by vanity, think themselves quite as capable
as their patron. Pure devotion, such as Modeste conceived it, without
money and without price, and more especially without hope, is rare.
Modeste Mignon |
