| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: him from daring to put forth all his powers. Provincial life, without
an opening, without appreciation, without encouragement, described a
circle about him in which languished and died the power of thought,--a
power which as yet had scarcely reached its dawn. Moreover, Athanase
possessed that savage pride which poverty intensifies in noble minds,
exalting them in their struggle with men and things; although at their
start in life it is an obstacle to their advancement. Genius proceeds
in two ways: either it takes its opportunity--like Napoleon, like
Moliere--the moment that it sees it, or it waits to be sought when it
has patiently revealed itself. Young Granson belonged to that class of
men of talent who distrust themselves and are easily discouraged. His
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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 Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf: But--after love what comes?
A scene that lours,
A few sad vacant hours,
And then, the Curtain.
I daresay Mrs. Paley is the only one of us who can really understand that."
"We'll ask her," said Hirst. "Please, Hewet, if you must go to bed,
draw my curtain. Few things distress me more than the moonlight."
Hewet retreated, pressing the poems of Thomas Hardy beneath his arm,
and in their beds next door to each other both the young men were
soon asleep.
Between the extinction of Hewet's candle and the rising of a dusky
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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 Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: vessels of this type have been, and still are being, constructed,
culminating, so far as is known, in the "L-5," which is stated to
have a capacity of about 1,000,000 cubic feet, and to possess an
average speed of 65 miles per hour.
While it is generally maintained that the Zeppelins will prove
formidable in attack, greater reliance is being placed upon the
demoralising or terrifying effect which they are able to
exercise. Owing to the fact that from 3 to 5 tons of fuel--say
900 to 1,500 gallons of gasoline or petrol--can be carried
aboard, giving them a wide radius of action, it is doubtful
whether they could travel from Cologne to London and back upon a
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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 Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: where the snow ended; and two ways lay before it by which it might journey;
one, on the mountain ridges, past rocks and stones, and down long sunlit
slopes to the sea; and the other, down a chasm. And the stream hesitated:
it twirled and purled, and went this way and went that. It MIGHT have
been, that it would have forced its way past rocks and ridges and along
mountain slopes, and made a path for itself where no path had been; the
banks would have grown green, and the mountain daisy would have grown
beside it; and all night the stars would have looked at their faces in it;
and down the long sunny slopes the sun would have played on it by day; and
the wood dove would have built her nest in the trees beside it; and
singing, singing, always singing, it would have made its way at last to the
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