| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: the islands in that waste of ocean have received drift after drift
of the races. Down from the mainland of Asia poured an Aryan
drift that built civilisations in Ceylon, Java, and Sumatra. Only
the monuments of these Aryans remain. They themselves have
perished utterly, though not until after leaving evidences of
their drift clear across the great South Pacific to far Easter
Island. And on that drift they encountered races who had
accomplished the drift before them, and they, the Aryans, passed,
in turn, before the drift of other and subsequent races whom we
to-day call the Polynesian and the Melanesian.
Man early discovered death. As soon as his evolution permitted,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot: |\ |\ | \
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Once more we ascended into space. "Hitherto," said the Sphere,
"I have shewn you naught save Plane Figures and their interiors.
Now I must introduce you to Solids, and reveal to you the plan
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: control, and twice he refused to allow these orders to stand. "No
commanding general should do such a thing upon his
responsibility, without consulting him," he said; and he added
that whether he, as Commander-in-Chief, had the power to free
slaves, and whether at any time the use of such power should
become necessary, were questions which he reserved to himself. He
did not feel justified in leaving such decisions to commanders in
the field. He even refused at that time to allow Secretary
Cameron to make a public announcement that the government might
find it necessary to arm slaves and employ them as soldiers. He
would not cross Fox River until he came to it. He would not take
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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 Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: budget, addressed to the wife of Clerk-Register Mackgil,
which is worthy of some further mention. The Clerk-Register
had not opened his heart, it would appear, to the preaching
of the Gospel, and Mrs. Mackgil has written, seeking the
Reformer's prayers in his behalf. "Your husband," he
answers, "is dear to me for that he is a man indued with some
good gifts, but more dear for that he is your husband.
Charity moveth me to thirst his illumination, both for his
comfort and for the trouble which you sustain by his
coldness, which justly may be called infidelity." He wishes
her, however, not to hope too much; he can promise that his
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