| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: I seized the opportunity to examine Sir Crichton's body.
The dead man was in evening dress, but wore an old
smoking-jacket. He had been of spare but hardy build,
with thin, aquiline features, which now were oddly puffy,
as were his clenched hands. I pushed back his sleeve,
and saw the marks of the hypodermic syringe upon his left arm.
Quite mechanically I turned my attention to the right arm.
It was unscarred, but on the back of the hand was a faint
red mark, not unlike the imprint of painted lips.
I examined it closely, and even tried to rub it off, but it
evidently was caused by some morbid process of local inflammation,
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: acquaintance of his own, and he expressed much grave
commiseration for his fate. In all that he said and did,
Rufe was grave. I never saw him hurried. When he spoke, he
took out his pipe with ceremonial deliberation, looked east
and west, and then, in quiet tones and few words, stated his
business or told his story. His gait was to match; it would
never have surprised you if, at any step, he had turned round
and walked away again, so warily and slowly, and with so much
seeming hesitation did he go about. He lay long in bed in
the morning - rarely indeed, rose before noon; he loved all
games, from poker to clerical croquet; and in the Toll House
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: all virtue.
[1] See Aeschin. "c. Ctes." p. 52, 25; Plat. "Phileb." 56 B.
[2] See Plut. "Apophth. Lac." p. 104.
Yet let it not be supposed, because he whom we praise has finished
life, that our discourse must therefore be regarded as a funeral
hymn.[3] Far rather let it be named a hymn of praise, since in the
first place it is only the repetition, now that he is dead, of a tale
familiar to his ears when living. And in the next place, what is more
remote from dirge and lamentation than a life of glory crowned by
seasonable death? What more deserving of song and eulogy than
resplendent victories and deeds of highest note? Surely if one man
|
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 Bab:A Sub-Deb, Mary Roberts Rinehart by Mary Roberts Rinehart: She sulked after that, and helped me out of my things at home
without a word. When I was in bed, however, and she was hanging up
my clothes, she said:
"I don't know what's got into you, Miss Barbara. You are that cross
that there's no living with you."
"Oh, go away," I said.
"And what's more," she added, "I don't know but what your mother
ought to know about these goingson. You're only a little girl, with
all your high and mightiness, and there's going to be no scandal in
this Familey if I can help it."
I put the bedclothes over my head, and she went out.
|
