| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: they were left alone, he talked more freely of his personal plans
and hopes
than he had ever done before.
"I feel very grateful to-night," said he, at last; "it must be
something in
the air of Christmas that gives me this feeling of thankfulness
for
the many divine mercies that have been bestowed upon me. All the
principles by which I have tried to guide my life have been
justified.
I have never made the value of this salted almond by anything
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: cognoscerent, quae hoc erant etiam angustior quod sine impedimentis Caesar
legiones transportaverat, optimum factu esse duxerunt rebellione facta
frumento commeatuque nostros prohibere et rem in hiemem producere, quod
his superatis aut reditu interclusis neminem postea belli inferendi causa
in Britanniam transiturum confidebant. Itaque rursus coniuratione facta
paulatim ex castris discedere et suos clam ex agris deducere coeperunt.
At Caesar, etsi nondum eorum consilia cognoverat, tamen et ex eventu
navium suarum et ex eo quod obsides dare intermiserant fore id quod
accidit suspicabatur. Itaque ad omnes casus subsidia comparabat. Nam et
frumentum ex agris cotidie in castra conferebat et, quae gravissime
adflictae erant naves, earum materia atque aere ad reliquas reficiendas
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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 Enoch Arden, &c. by Alfred Tennyson: He must have known, himself had known: besides,
He never yet had set his daughter forth
Here in the woman-markets of the west,
Where our Caucasians let themselves be sold.
Some one, he thought, had slander'd Leolin to him.
`Brother, for I have loved you more as a son
Than brother, let me tell you: I myself--
What is their pretty saying? jilted is it?
Jilted I was: I say it for your peace.
Pain'd, and, as bearing in myself the shame
The woman should have borne, humiliated,
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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 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: All along upon the green meadow beneath the town wall stretched
a row of benches, one above the other, which were for knight
and lady, squire and dame, and rich burghers and their wives;
for none but those of rank and quality were to sit there.
At the end of the range, near the target, was a raised seat bedecked
with ribbons and scarfs and garlands of flowers, for the Sheriff
of Nottingham and his dame. The range was twoscore paces broad.
At one end stood the target, at the other a tent of striped canvas,
from the pole of which fluttered many-colored flags and streamers.
In this booth were casks of ale, free to be broached by any
of the archers who might wish to quench their thirst.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
