| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: narrow income put the longed-for life in Paris quite out of the
question, she looked about her at the people with whom her life must
be spent, and shuddered at her loneliness. There was not a single man
who could inspire the madness to which women are prone when they
despair of a life become stale and unprofitable in the present, and
with no outlook for the future. She had nothing to look for, nothing
to expect from chance, for there are lives in which chance plays no
part. But when the Empire was in the full noonday of glory, and
Napoleon was sending the flower of his troops to the Peninsula, her
disappointed hopes revived. Natural curiosity prompted her to make an
effort to see the heroes who were conquering Europe in obedience to a
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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 Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: beautiful country!"
"The country seems rather high class, I'll admit,
Trot," replied the old sailor-man, looking around him,
"but we don't know, as yet, what its people are like."
"No one could live in such a country without being
happy and good -- I'm sure of that," she said earnestly.
"Don't you think so, Button-Bright?"
"I'm not thinking, just now," answered the little boy.
"It tires me to think, and I never seem to gain anything
by it. When we see the people who live here we will know
what they are like, and no 'mount of thinking will make
The Scarecrow of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: goes her birthright, $60,000, and she alone in the world. It's
begun to go already," he added, listening to the sounds that came
from the bark. Kitchell was raging to and fro in the cabin in a
frenzy of drink, axe in hand, smashing glassware, hacking into the
wood-work, singing the while at the top of his voice:
"As through the drop I go, drop I go,
As through the drop I go, drop I go,
As through the drop I go,
Down to hell that yawns below,
Twenty stiffs all in a row
Damn your eyes"
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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 Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: to put them into words. Bring your children; you can nurse baby here
without making me jealous; all that is gone, /he/ is not here, and I
shall be very glad to see my godson. Felipe used to wish for a child
like little Armand. Come, then, come and help me to bear my woe.
XLVII
RENEE TO LOUISE
1829.
My darling,--When you hold this letter in your hands, I shall be
already near, for I am starting a few minutes after it. We shall be
alone together. Louis is obliged to remain in Provence because of the
approaching elections. He wants to be elected again, and the Liberals
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