| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: neighbor's joke with another: Du Bousquier was a father, but not a
confessor; he was father less; he was father LY; he was not a reverend
father; nor yet a conscript-father--
"Nor can he be a foster-father," said the Abbe de Sponde, with a
gravity which stopped the laughter.
"Nor a noble father," added the chevalier.
The Church and the nobility descended thus into the arena of puns,
without, however, losing their dignity.
"Hush!" exclaimed the recorder of mortgages. "I hear the creaking of
du Bousquier's boots."
It usually happens that a man is ignorant of rumors that are afloat
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: adults, however unlearned, to the preservation not only of their
own health, but of that of their children.
The value of healthy habitations, of personal cleanliness, of pure
air and pure water, of various kinds of food, according as each
tends to make bone, fat, or muscle, provided only--provided only--
that the food be unadulterated; the value of various kinds of
clothing, and physical exercise, of a free and equal development
of the brain power, without undue overstrain in any one direction;
in one word, the method of producing, as far as possible, the
mentem sanam in corpore sano, and the wonderful and blessed
effects of such obedience to those laws of nature, which are
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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 Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: back of the hands by a bramble-scratch at this time of the year.
'And what lovely flowers and leaves they wear in their bonnets!'
she exclaimed.
'Oh yes,' returned Mrs. Swancourt. 'Some of them are even more
striking in colour than any real ones. Look at that beautiful
rose worn by the lady inside the rails. Elegant vine-tendrils
introduced upon the stem as an improvement upon prickles, and all
growing so naturally just over her ear--I say growing advisedly,
for the pink of the petals and the pink of her handsome cheeks are
equally from Nature's hand to the eyes of the most casual
observer.'
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
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 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: a load of wood. The girl met him at the door, helped to relieve
him of his burden, and taking some of the fuel into the cottage,
placed it on the fire; then she and the youth went apart into a nook
of the cottage, and he showed her a large loaf and a piece of cheese.
She seemed pleased and went into the garden for some roots and plants,
which she placed in water, and then upon the fire. She afterwards
continued her work, whilst the young man went into the garden
and appeared busily employed in digging and pulling up roots.
After he had been employed thus about an hour, the young woman
joined him and they entered the cottage together.
"The old man had, in the meantime, been pensive, but on the
Frankenstein |
