| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain: anything about his folks--or him either, for that matter--that
we didn't know, he opened out and talked perfectly free
and candid. He never made any bones about his own case;
said he'd been a hard lot, was a hard lot yet, and reckoned
he'd be a hard lot plumb to the end. He said of course
it was a dangerous life, and--He give a kind of gasp,
and set his head like a person that's listening. We didn't
say anything, and so it was very still for a second or so,
and there warn't no sounds but the screaking of the
woodwork and the chug-chugging of the machinery down below.
Then we got him comfortable again, telling him about
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: judgment beyond appeal, to the apprehension of the most obtuse. She
knows how to listen to you; she gives you the opportunity of shining,
and--I ask your modesty--those moments are rare?"
The candid simplicity of the young Pole, to whom Blondet spoke, made
all the party shout with laughter.
"Now, you will not talk for half-an-hour with a /bourgeoise/ without
her alluding to her husband in one way or another," Blondet went on
with unperturbed gravity; "whereas, even if you know that your lady is
married, she will have the delicacy to conceal her husband so
effectually that it will need the enterprise of Christopher Columbus
to discover him. Often you will fail in the attempt single-handed. If
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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 A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: WARTBURG SEMINARY, DUBUQUE, IOWA.
TREATISE ON GOOD WORKS
1520
DEDICATION
JESUS
To the Illustrious, High-born Prince and Lord, John Duke of
Saxony, Landgrave of Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen, my gracious
Lord and Patron.
Illustrious, High-born Prince, gracious Lord! My humble duty and
my feeble prayer for your Grace always remembered!
For a long time, gracious Prince and Lord, I have wished to show
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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 Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: to the opposite side of the mill-pond, on a still Sunday morning,
which are said to be legitimately descended from the nose of
Ichabod Crane. Thus, by divers little makeshifts, in that
ingenious way which is commonly denominated "by hook and by
crook," the worthy pedagogue got on tolerably enough, and was
thought, by all who understood nothing of the labor of headwork,
to have a wonderfully easy life of it.
The schoolmaster is generally a man of some importance in
the female circle of a rural neighborhood; being considered a
kind of idle, gentlemanlike personage, of vastly superior taste
and accomplishments to the rough country swains, and, indeed,
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
