| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Reminiscences of Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy: harder work, especially at your age, when it is one's natural
business to be studying.
Third, in order to love people and to b. l. b. t.,¹ one
must train oneself to gentleness, humility, the art of bearing with
disagreeable people and things, the art of behaving to them so as
not to offend any one, of being able to choose the least offense.
And this is the hardest work of all--work that never ceases from
the time you wake till the time you go to sleep, and the most
joyful work of all, because day after day you rejoice in your
growing success in it, and receive a further reward, unperceived
at first, but very joyful after, in being loved by others.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: hear in them the far-off echo of a heavenly song. But my life,
dear Ernest, has not corresponded with my thought. I have had
grand dreams, but they have been only dreams, because I have
lived--and that, too, by my own choice--among poor and mean
realities. Sometimes even--shall I dare to say it?--I lack faith
in the grandeur, the beauty, and the goodness, which my own words
are said to have made more evident in nature and in human life.
Why, then, pure seeker of the good and true, shouldst thou hope
to find me, in yonder image of the divine?"
The poet spoke sadly, and his eyes were dim with tears. So,
likewise, were those of Ernest.
The Snow Image |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poems by Oscar Wilde: Outside the young boy-priest passed singing clear,
'Jesus the son of Mary has been slain,
O come and fill His sepulchre with flowers.'
Ah, God! Ah, God! those dear Hellenic hours
Had drowned all memory of Thy bitter pain,
The Cross, the Crown, the Soldiers and the Spear.
Poem: Rome Unvisited
I.
The corn has turned from grey to red,
Since first my spirit wandered forth
From the drear cities of the north,
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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 Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: " 'Especially life off the stage,' I put in.
" 'That is just what I mean,' he continued. 'Why, but for these
violent emotions, one would be bored to death! Ah! that woman has the
gift of rousing me.'
"We went to the Varietes after dinner; but before we left the house I
slipped into du Bruel's room, and on a shelf among a pile of waste
papers found the copy of the /Petites-Affiches/, in which, agreeably
to the reformed law, notice of the purchase of the house was inserted.
The words stared me in the face--'At the request of Jean Francois du
Bruel and Claudine Chaffaroux, his wife----' /Here/ was the
explanation of the whole matter. I offered my arm to Claudine, and
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