| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: resistance, gave to this fancy of the youth a semblance of truth which
reacted upon his lively imagination. The old man worked on, muttering
half to himself, half to his neophyte:--
"Paf! paf! paf! that is how we butter it on, young man. Ah! my little
pats, you are right; warm up that icy tone. Come, come!--pon, pon,
pon,--" he continued, touching up the spots where he had complained of
a lack of life, hiding under layers of color the conflicting methods,
and regaining the unity of tone essential to an ardent Egyptian.
"Now see, my little friend, it is only the last touches of the brush
that count for anything. Porbus put on a hundred; I have only put on
one or two. Nobody will thank us for what is underneath, remember
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: the hands of a people and set up on high, and whose hand they have armed
with their sword, whose power to strike is their power--his sins are
theirs; there is no man so small in the whole nation that he dares say, 'I
have no responsibility for this man's action.' We armed him, we raised
him, we strengthened him, and the evil he accomplishes is more ours than
his. If this man's end in South Africa should be accomplished, and the day
should come when, from the Zambezi to the sea, white man should fly at
white man's throat, and every man's heart burn with bitterness against his
fellow, and the land be bathed with blood as rain--shall I then dare to
pray, who have now feared to speak? Do not think I wish for punishment
upon these men. Let them take the millions they have wrung out of this
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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 The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: going to be anything like THIS!" We in the East have
no standards of comparison either as regards size or
as regards color--especially color. Some people
once directed me to "The Gorge" on the New
England coast. I couldn't find it. They led me to it,
and rhapsodized over its magnificent terror. I could
have ridden a horse into the ridiculous thing. As for
color, no Easterner believes in it when such men as
Lungren or Parrish transposit it faithfully, any more
than a Westerner would believe in the autumn foliage
of our own hardwoods, or an Englishman in the
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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 Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: CHARLES.
O, that I were some other countryman!
This day hath set derision on the French,
And all the world will blurt and scorn at us.
KING JOHN.
What, is there no hope left?
PHILLIP.
No hope, but death, to bury up our shame.
KING JOHN.
Make up once more with me; the twentieth part
Of those that live, are men inow to quail
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