| 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: bachelor?"
"I'm sure I don't know," replied the abbe, who was thinking of a
discussion on mercy, lately begun between the Abbe Couturier and
himself. "Monsieur de Troisville wrote me that he wanted to buy a
house here. If he was married, he wouldn't come alone on such an
errand," added the abbe, carelessly, not conceiving the idea that his
niece could be thinking of marriage.
"Is he rich?"
"He is a younger son of the younger branch," replied her uncle. "His
grandfather commanded a squadron, but the father of this young man
made a bad marriage."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: with consumption. In the mill he was known as one of the girl-
men: "Molly Wolfe" was his sobriquet. He was never seen in the
cockpit, did not own a terrier, drank but seldom; when he did,
desperately. He fought sometimes, but was always thrashed,
pommelled to a jelly. The man was game enough, when his blood
was up: but he was no favorite in the mill; he had the taint of
school-learning on him,--not to a dangerous extent, only a
quarter or so in the free-school in fact, but enough to ruin him
as a good hand in a fight.
For other reasons, too, he was not popular. Not one of
themselves, they felt that, though outwardly as filthy and ash-
Life in the Iron-Mills |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: spirited horse, just as a man is bewildered by any sudden sight or
sound or other experience. [I say one should be aware that any
unexpected shock will produce disturbance in a horse.][2]
[1] Or, "so that the horse may insensibly fall into a gallop."
[2] L. Dindorf and others bracket, as spurious.
So if you wish to pull up a spirited horse when breaking off into a
quicker pace than requisite, you must not suddenly wrench him, but
quietly and gently bring the bit to bear upon him, coaxing him rather
than compelling him to calm down. It is the long steady course rather
than the frequent turn which tends to calm a horse.[3] A quiet pace
sustained for a long time has a caressing,[4] soothing effect, the
On Horsemanship |
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 Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: occupation, protection, consolation, the mental relief of grappling
with concrete problems, the sanity one acquires from close contact
with simple mankind, a little self-confidence born from the
dealings with the elemental powers of nature. I couldn't give all
that up. And besides all this was related to Dona Rita. I had, as
it were, received it all from her own hand, from that hand the
clasp of which was as frank as a man's and yet conveyed a unique
sensation. The very memory of it would go through me like a wave
of heat. It was over that hand that we first got into the habit of
quarrelling, with the irritability of sufferers from some obscure
pain and yet half unconscious of their disease. Rita's own spirit
The Arrow of Gold |
