| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: 'I have no time to be happy, Sybil. I always like the last person
who is introduced to me; but, as a rule, as soon as I know people I
get tired of them.'
'Don't your lions satisfy you, Lady Windermere?'
'Oh dear, no! lions are only good for one season. As soon as their
manes are cut, they are the dullest creatures going. Besides, they
behave very badly, if you are really nice to them. Do you remember
that horrid Mr. Podgers? He was a dreadful impostor. Of course, I
didn't mind that at all, and even when he wanted to borrow money I
forgave him, but I could not stand his making love to me. He has
really made me hate cheiromancy. I go in for telepathy now. It is
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: nay, from the mere point of view of the wicked body, it has proved
a success. But I wish I could still get to the woods; alas, NOUS
N'IRONS PLUS AU BOIS is my poor song; the paths are buried, the
dingles drifted full, a little walk is grown a long one; till
spring comes, I fear the burthen will hold good.
I get along with my papers for SCRIBNER not fast, nor so far
specially well; only this last, the fourth one (which makes a third
part of my whole task), I do believe is pulled off after a fashion.
It is a mere sermon: 'Smith opens out'; but it is true, and I find
it touching and beneficial, to me at least; and I think there is
some fine writing in it, some very apt and pregnant phrases.
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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 Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: and upholds their drooping fellow-townsmen. There is yet
another class who do not depend on corporal advantages,
but support the winter in virtue of a brave and merry
heart. One shivering evening, cold enough for frost but
with too high a wind, and a little past sundown, when the
lamps were beginning to enlarge their circles in the
growing dusk, a brace of barefoot lassies were seen
coming eastward in the teeth of the wind. If the one was
as much as nine, the other was certainly not more than
seven. They were miserably clad; and the pavement was so
cold, you would have thought no one could lay a naked
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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 Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: shelter of a huge tree until morning; but the coming of dawn
brought no cessation of the torrential downpour.
For a week the sun was obscured by heavy clouds, while
violent rain and wind storms obliterated the last remnants of
the spoor Tarzan constantly though vainly sought.
During all this time he saw no signs of natives, nor of his
own pack, the members of which he feared had lost his trail
during the terrific storm. As the country was strange to him,
he had been unable to judge his course accurately, since he had had
neither sun by day nor moon nor stars by night to guide him.
When the sun at last broke through the clouds in the
The Beasts of Tarzan |
