| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: a petty monarch, but a most thorough one. He had
spoiled Christopher, and his wife, although a woman
of high spirit, knew of no appealing.
"I could never go against your father, you know
that," said Mrs. Dodd, following up her advantage.
"Then," said Abby, "you ought to have warned
poor Myrtle. It was a shame to let her marry a
man as spoiled as Christopher."
"I would have married him, anyway," declared
Myrtle with sudden defiance; and her mother-in-
law regarded her approvingly.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: which contains the eggs, has none of the ingenious structure which
we admired in the Banded and in the Silky Epeira. No longer do we
see a graceful balloon-shape nor yet a paraboloid with a starry
base; no longer a tough, waterproof satin stuff; no longer a
swan's-down resembling a fleecy, russet cloud; no longer an inner
keg in which the eggs are packed. The art of stout fabrics and of
walls within walls is unknown here.
The work of the Cross Spider is a pill of white silk, wrought into
a yielding felt, through which the new-born Spiders will easily
work their way, without the aid of the mother, long since dead, and
without having to rely upon its bursting at the given hour. It is
The Life of the Spider |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: me, and I learned to divide them so as to provide for them
accordingly; but I bought all my experience before I had it, and
this I am going to relate was one of the most discouraging
experiments that I made.
I have mentioned that I had saved the few ears of barley and rice,
which I had so surprisingly found spring up, as I thought, of
themselves, and I believe there were about thirty stalks of rice,
and about twenty of barley; and now I thought it a proper time to
sow it, after the rains, the sun being in its southern position,
going from me. Accordingly, I dug up a piece of ground as well as
I could with my wooden spade, and dividing it into two parts, I
Robinson Crusoe |
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 Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly.
Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men
represent the triumph of mind over morals."
"Harry, how can you?"
"My dear Dorian, it is quite true. I am analysing women at present,
so I ought to know. The subject is not so abstruse as I thought it was.
I find that, ultimately, there are only two kinds of women,
the plain and the coloured. The plain women are very useful.
If you want to gain a reputation for respectability, you have merely
to take them down to supper. The other women are very charming.
They commit one mistake, however. They paint in order to try and look young.
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
