| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: what courage, with what pitiful sinkings of dread, God only knows)
to a lifetime of dressing sores and stumps.
You will say, perhaps, I am too sensitive, that sights as painful
abound in cancer hospitals and are confronted daily by doctors and
nurses. I have long learned to admire and envy the doctors and the
nurses. But there is no cancer hospital so large and populous as
Kalawao and Kalaupapa; and in such a matter every fresh case, like
every inch of length in the pipe of an organ, deepens the note of
the impression; for what daunts the onlooker is that monstrous sum
of human suffering by which he stands surrounded. Lastly, no
doctor or nurse is called upon to enter once for all the doors of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: grew in a cleft, struck the face of the stone, crying in a loud
voice, "I command thee to open, in the name of the red
Aldebaran!"
Instantly, creaking and groaning, the face of the rock opened
like a door, gaping blackly. Then, one after another, the three
old men entered, and nothing was left but the dull light of their
torches, shining on the walls of the passage-way.
What happened inside the cavern the fagot-maker could neither see
nor hear, but minute after minute passed while he sat as in a
maze at all that had happened. Then presently he heard a deep
thundering voice and a voice as of one of the old men in answer.
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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 Under the Andes by Rex Stout: face grew deadly white and his eyes were fastened on hers with a
look that made me turn my own away. His soul looked out from
them--how he loved the woman--and I could not bear it!
Nor, after a moment, could Desiree. She took a step forward,
extending her arms to him and cried out:
"Harry! No! It was a lie, Harry! Don't--don't!"
And they gazed at each other, and I at Desiree, and thus we
were unaware that a fourth person had entered the room, until he
had crossed its full length and stood before me. It was the Inca
king.
I took no time for thought, but jumped straight for Harry and
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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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: been suddenly transplanted into their street. They stirred something in
him, those bells, something vague and tender. Just about that time Anna
would call him from the hall. "Andreas, come and have your coat brushed.
I'm ready." Then off they would go, she hanging on his arm, and looking up
at him. She certainly was a little thing. He remembered once saying when
they were engaged, "Just as high as my heart," and she had jumped on to a
stool and pulled his head down, laughing. A kid in those days, younger
than her children in nature, brighter, more "go" and "spirit" in her. The
way she'd run down the road to meet him after business! And the way she
laughed when they were looking for a house. By Jove! that laugh of hers!
At the memory he grinned, then grew suddenly grave. Marriage certainly
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