| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: profit of his native land. Resignation may follow after a
reasonable time upon despair; but if a man is persecuted by a
series of brief and irritating hopes, his mind no more
attains to a settled frame of resolution, than his eye would
grow familiar with a night of thunder and lightning. Years
after, when he was speaking at the trial of that Duke of
Alencon, who began life so hopefully as the boyish favourite
of Joan of Arc, he sought to prove that captivity was a
harder punishment than death. "For I have had experience
myself," he said; "and in my prison of England, for the
weariness, danger, and displeasure in which I then lay, I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the etiquette of nations? For lesser things great powers
had gone to war.
The princess in her was shocked and angered--but what of the girl!
And the guard--what of them? Evidently they, too,
had been so much surprised by the unprecedented action
of the stranger that they had not even challenged;
but that they had no thought to let the thing go unnoticed
was quickly evidenced by the skirring of motors upon
the landing-stage and the quick shooting airward of a
long-lined patrol boat.
Thuvia watched it dart swiftly eastward. So, too,
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: it. The red-tiled floor, polished by the old lady's one servant,
required, for comfort's sake, before each seat small round mats of
brown straw, on one of which the abbe was now resting his feet. The
old damask curtains of light green with green flowers were drawn, and
the outside blinds had been closed. Two wax candles lighted the table,
leaving the rest of the room in semi-obscurity. Is it necessary to say
that between the two windows was a fine pastel by Latour representing
the famous Admiral de Portenduere, the rival of the Suffren, Guichen,
Kergarouet and Simeuse naval heroes? On the paneled wall opposite to
the fireplace were portraits of the Vicomte de Portenduere and of the
mother of the old lady, a Kergarouet-Ploegat. Savinien's great-uncle
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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 A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: climbed last. He was travel stained, unkempt, and very tired; but
his soul was at peace. As they steadily ascended the almost
perpendicular stairs, the sun got higher in the sky. Its light dyed
their bodies a ruddy gold.
They gained the top. There they found rolling in front of them, as
far as the eye could see, a barren desert of white sand, broken here
and there by large, jagged masses of black rock. Tracts of the sand
were reddened by the sinking sun. The vast expanse of sky was filled
by evil-shaped clouds and wild colors. The freezing wind, flurrying
across the desert, drove the fine particles of sand painfully against
their faces.
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