| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: and a sad, dissatisfied sense of being out of the scheme of the latters'
lives had possession of him. Phillotson had invited him to walk
out and see them on Friday evening, when there would be no lessons
to give to Sue, and Jude had eagerly promised to avail himself of
the opportunity.
Meanwhile the scholars and teachers moved homewards, and the next day,
on looking on the blackboard in Sue's class, Phillotson was surprised
to find upon it, skilfully drawn in chalk, a perspective view of Jerusalem,
with every building shown in its place.
"I thought you took no interest in the model, and hardly looked at it?"
he said.
Jude the Obscure |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: chili are never lacking," Anastasio Montanez said with
a triumphant belch.
The mountaineers would shake calloused hands with
the travelers, saying:
"God's blessing on you! He will find a way to help you
all, never fear. We're going ourselves, starting tomorrow
morning. We're dodging the draft, with those damned
Government people who've declared war to the death on
us, on all the poor. They come and steal our pigs, our
chickens and com, they bum our homes and carry our
women off, and if they ever get hold of us they'll kill us
The Underdogs |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: The next morning I left the town.
I never saw her again.
Years afterwards I heard she had married and gone to America; it may or may
not be so--but the rose--the rose is in the box still! When my faith in
woman grows dim, and it seems that for want of love and magnanimity she can
play no part in any future heaven; then the scent of that small withered
thing comes back:--spring cannot fail us.
Matjesfontein,
South Africa.
III. "THE POLICY IN FAVOUR OF PROTECTION--".
Was it Right?--Was it Wrong?
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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 Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: servants always paid in ready money for the most trifling necessaries
of life, and acted as not choosing to take credit; if now they had
asked for anything on credit, it would probably have been refused,
calumnious gossip had been so widely believed in the neighborhood.
There are tradesmen who like those of their customers who pay badly
when they see them often, while they hate others, and very good ones,
who hold themselves on too high a level to allow of any familiarity as
CHUMS, a vulgar but expressive word. Men are made so; in almost every
class they will allow to a gossip, or a vulgar soul that flatters
them, facilities and favors they refuse to the superiority they
resent, in whatever form it may show itself. The shopkeeper who rails
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