| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: bottles ... into the lagoon, and buried them.' He looked
over his shoulder, back at the bright water. 'Well, so you'll
come to dinner, then? Shall we say half-past six. So good of
you!'
His voice, in uttering these conventional phrases, fell at once
into the false measure of society; and Herrick unconsciously
followed the example.
'I am sure we shall be very glad,' he said. 'At half-past six?
Thank you so very much.'
'"For my voice has been tuned to the note of the gun
That startles the deep when the combat's begun,"'
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Flame and Shadow by Sara Teasdale: If all must leave me and go back
Along a blind and fearful track
So that you can make anew,
Fusing with intenser fire,
Something nearer your desire;
If my soul must go alone
Through a cold infinity,
Or even if it vanish, too,
Beauty, I have worshipped you.
Let this single hour atone
For the theft of all of me.
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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 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: me alone on the verandah. If he had alluded to it, if he had
asked: "Where's Alice?" or something of the sort, I would have
been able to judge from the tone. He would give me no opportunity.
The striking peculiarity was that he had never looked up at me yet.
"He knows," I said to myself confidently. And my contempt for him
relieved my disgust with myself.
"You are early home," I remarked.
"Things are very quiet; nothing doing at the store to-day," he
explained with a cast-down air.
"Oh, well, you know, I am off," I said, feeling that this, perhaps,
was the best thing to do.
'Twixt Land & Sea |
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 Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: their looms; and then asked him whether the design pleased him, and whether
the colors were not very beautiful; at the same time pointing to the empty
frames. The poor old minister looked and looked, he could not discover
anything on the looms, for a very good reason, viz: there was nothing there.
"What!" thought he again. "Is it possible that I am a simpleton? I have never
thought so myself; and no one must know it now if I am so. Can it be, that I
am unfit for my office? No, that must not be said either. I will never confess
that I could not see the stuff."
"Well, Sir Minister!" said one of the knaves, still pretending to work. "You
do not say whether the stuff pleases you."
"Oh, it is excellent!" replied the old minister, looking at the loom through
Fairy Tales |
