| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: feeling, full, strong. An old man, who had lived much, suffered
much; whose brain was keenly alive, dominant; whose heart was
summer-warm with charity. He taught it to-night. He held up
Humanity in its grand total; showed the great world-cancer to
his people. Who could show it better? He was a Christian
reformer; he had studied the age thoroughly; his outlook at man
had been free, world-wide, over all time. His faith stood
sublime upon the Rock of Ages; his fiery zeal guided vast
schemes by which the Gospel was to be preached to all nations.
How did he preach it to-night? In burning, light-laden words he
painted Jesus, the incarnate Life, Love, the universal Man:
Life in the Iron-Mills |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: color, for a background; the floor was tinted brown and well frotted;
each chair was furnished with a bit of carpet bound round the edges;
the sofa, simple enough, was clean as that in the bedroom of some
worthy bourgeoise. All these things denoted the tidy ways of a small
mind and the thrift of a poor man. A bureau was there, in which to put
away the studio implements, a table for breakfast, a sideboard, a
secretary; in short, all the articles necessary to a painter, neatly
arranged and very clean. The stove participated in this Dutch
cleanliness, which was all the more visible because the pure and
little changing light from the north flooded with its cold clear beams
the vast apartment. Fougeres, being merely a genre painter, does not
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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 To-morrow by Joseph Conrad: "He starves himself for your sake."
"And I have starved for his whim," he said, tak-
ing up another piece.
"All he has in the world is for you," she
pleaded.
"Yes, if I come here to sit on it like a dam' toad
in a hole. Thank you; and what about the shovel,
eh? He always had a queer way of showing his
love."
"I could bring him round in a week," she sug-
gested, timidly.
To-morrow |
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 Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: death? And none had yet come to dispute his claim. More and
more, with the passing of weeks, months, seasons, she became a
portion of his life--a part of all that he wrought for. At the
first, he had had a half-formed hope that the little one might be
reclaimed by relatives generous and rich enough to insist upon
his acceptance of a handsome compensation; and that Carmen could
find some solace in a pleasant visit to Barceloneta. But now he
felt that no possible generosity could requite him for her loss;
and with the unconscious selfishness of affection, he commenced
to dread her identification as a great calamity.
It was evident that she had been brought up nicely. She had
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