| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: stock of provisions, and their perilous and uncertain chance
of speedy relief, he would launch out into an account of one
of his expeditions in the North Sea, when the vessel, being
much disabled in a storm, was driven before the wind with the
loss of almost all their provisions; and the ship being much
infested with rats, the crew hunted these vermin with great
eagerness to help their scanty allowance. By such means Glen
had the address to make his companions, in some measure,
satisfied, or at least passive, with regard to their miserable
prospects upon this half-tide rock in the middle of the ocean.
This incident is noticed, more particularly, to show the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: families of the Saint-Germain quarter.
These sentiments had not escaped the observing eye of Monsieur de
Fontaine, who more than once, when his two elder girls were married,
had smarted under Emilie's sarcasm. Logical readers will be surprised
to see the old Royalist bestowing his eldest daughter on a Receiver-
General, possessed, indeed, of some old hereditary estates, but whose
name was not preceded by the little word to which the throne owed so
many partisans, and his second to a magistrate too lately Baronified
to obscure the fact that his father had sold firewood. This noteworthy
change in the ideas of a noble on the verge of his sixtieth year--an
age when men rarely renounce their convictions--was due not merely to
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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 The Profits of Religion by Upton Sinclair: such cases!
And here is the "Christian Endeavor World", organ of one of the
most powerful non-sectarian religious bodies in the country. Some
one wrote complaining of its medical advertising, and the answer
was:
To the best of our knowledge and belief, we are not publishing
any fraudulent or unworthy medical advertising ...... Trusting
that you will be able to understand that we are acting according
to our best and sincerest judgment, I remain, yours very truly,
The Golden Rule Company, George W. Coleman, Business Manager.
Whereupon the historian of "The Great American Fraud" remarks:
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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 Youth by Joseph Conrad: remained. The fore-end of a steamer loomed up close.
I shouted down the cabin, 'Come up, quick!' and then
heard a startled voice saying afar in the dark, 'Stop her,
sir.' A bell jingled. Another voice cried warningly,
'We are going right into that bark, sir.' The answer to
this was a gruff 'All right,' and the next thing was a
heavy crash as the steamer struck a glancing blow with
the bluff of her bow about our fore-rigging. There was
a moment of confusion, yelling, and running about.
Steam roared. Then somebody was heard saying, 'All
clear, sir.' . . . 'Are you all right?' asked the gruff
Youth |
