| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Faith of Men by Jack London: that power had turned his head, and he would not be satisfied till
all the power and all the wealth rested in his own hands. So he
became swollen with pride, forgot it was I that had placed him
there, and made preparations to destroy me.
"But it was interesting, for the beggar was working out in his own
way an evolution of primitive society. Now I, by virtue of the
hooch monopoly, drew a revenue in which I no longer permitted him
to share. So he meditated for a while and evolved a system of
ecclesiastical taxation. He laid tithes upon the people, harangued
about fat firstlings and such things, and twisted whatever twisted
texts he had ever heard to serve his purpose. Even this I bore in
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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 White Moll by Frank L. Packard: the narrow landing, and felt with her fingers along the floor for
the aperture, where, imitating the custom of Gypsy Nan, she had left
her key when she went out, she heard the footsteps coming steadily
on, passing the doors below her, and making toward the garret ladder.
And then, stifling a startled little cry, her hand closed on the key,
and closed, as it had closed on that first night when she had
returned here in the role of Gypsy Nan, on a piece of paper wrapped
around the key. The days of isolation were ended with climacteric
effect; the pendulum had swung full the other way - to-night there
was both a visitor and a message!
The paper detached from the key and thrust into her bodice, she
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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 Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: stuff in which the soul of woman delights, and, in a passive,
silent way, the soul of man also. Then, after we had discussed the
year's fishing, and the mysteries of the camera, and the deep
question of what makes some negatives too thin and others too
thick, we must go out to see the big salmon which one of the ladies
had caught a few days before, and the large trout swimming about in
their cold spring. It seemed to me, as we went on our way, that
there could hardly be a more wholesome and pleasant summer-life for
well-bred young women than this, or two amusements more innocent
and sensible than photography and fly-fishing.
It must be confessed that the horse-yacht as a vehicle of travel is
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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 Walden by Henry David Thoreau: graveyard ditty, the mutual consolations of suicide lovers
remembering the pangs and the delights of supernal love in the
infernal groves. Yet I love to hear their wailing, their doleful
responses, trilled along the woodside; reminding me sometimes of
music and singing birds; as if it were the dark and tearful side of
music, the regrets and sighs that would fain be sung. They are the
spirits, the low spirits and melancholy forebodings, of fallen souls
that once in human shape night-walked the earth and did the deeds of
darkness, now expiating their sins with their wailing hymns or
threnodies in the scenery of their transgressions. They give me a
new sense of the variety and capacity of that nature which is our
Walden |
