| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: well how to throw about children. Who can forget the passage
where Cosette, sent out at night to draw water, stands in
admiration before the illuminated booth, and the huckster
behind "lui faisait un peu l'effet d'etre le Pere eternel?"
The pathos of the forlorn sabot laid trustingly by the
chimney in expectation of the Santa Claus that was not, takes
us fairly by the throat; there is nothing in Shakespeare that
touches the heart more nearly. The loves of Cosette and
Marius are very pure and pleasant, and we cannot refuse our
affection to Gavroche, although we may make a mental
reservation of our profound disbelief in his existence. Take
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: perhaps, to be witnesses of his lordship's zeal for the Covenant.
The Marquis himself was dressed in the fashion of the period,
which Vandyke has so often painted, but his habit was sober and
uniform in colour, and rather rich than gay. His dark
complexion, furrowed forehead, and downcast look, gave him the
appearance of one frequently engaged in the consideration of
important affairs, and who has acquired, by long habit, an air of
gravity and mystery, which he cannot shake off even where there
is nothing to be concealed. The cast with his eyes, which had
procured him in the Highlands the nickname of Gillespie Grumach
(or the grim), was less perceptible when he looked downward,
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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 Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: Street all profess complete bafflement, and which the survivor
says he found in the cabin of the yacht, in a small carved shrine
of common pattern.
This man, after recovering his senses, told
an exceedingly strange story of piracy and slaughter. He is Gustaf
Johansen, a Norwegian of some intelligence, and had been second
mate of the two-masted schooner Emma of Auckland, which sailed
for Callao February 20th with a complement of eleven men. The
Emma, he says, was delayed and thrown widely south of her course
by the great storm of March 1st, and on March 22nd, in S. Latitude
49°51' W. Longitude 128°34', encountered the Alert, manned by
Call of Cthulhu |
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 Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane: right of way, he would have probably been immediately opposed by a
scowling mortal with two sets of very hard knuckles.
It is possible, perhaps, that this young man would have
derided, in an axle-wide alley, the approach of a flying ferry
boat. Yet he achieved a respect for a fire engine. As one charged
toward his truck, he would drive fearfully upon a sidewalk,
threatening untold people with annihilation. When an engine would
strike a mass of blocked trucks, splitting it into fragments, as a
blow annihilates a cake of ice, Jimmie's team could usually be
observed high and safe, with whole wheels, on the sidewalk.
The fearful coming of the engine could break up the most intricate
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets |
