| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: net, the net for catching ideas, a more elusive and less
substantial prize than the Moth. Let us not lose heart. The best
part of life is not in the present, still less in the past; it lies
in the future, the domain of hope. Let us wait.
All day long, the sky, of a uniform grey, has appeared to be
brewing a storm. In spite of the threatened downpour, my
neighbour, who is a shrewd weather-prophet, has come out of the
cypress-tree and begun to renew her web at the regular hour. Her
forecast is correct: it will be a fine night. See, the steaming-
pan of the clouds splits open; and, through the apertures, the moon
peeps, inquisitively. I too, lantern in hand, am peeping. A gust
The Life of the Spider |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: mind and the thrift of a poor man. A bureau was there, in which to put
away the studio implements, a table for breakfast, a sideboard, a
secretary; in short, all the articles necessary to a painter, neatly
arranged and very clean. The stove participated in this Dutch
cleanliness, which was all the more visible because the pure and
little changing light from the north flooded with its cold clear beams
the vast apartment. Fougeres, being merely a genre painter, does not
need the immense machinery and outfit which ruin historical painters;
he has never recognized within himself sufficient faculty to attempt
high-art, and he therefore clings to easel painting.
At the beginning of the month of December of that year, a season at
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: helpless, one-sided way. I felt rather than saw that she was
standing in the door-way, and I made a final plunge into the basin.
"How is it possible for a man with only a right hand to wash his
left ear?" I asked from the roller towel. I was distinctly
uncomfortable: men are more rigidly creatures of convention than
women, whether they admit it or not. "There is so much soap on me
still that if I laugh I will blow bubbles. Washing with rain-water
and home-made soap is like motoring on a slippery road. I only
struck the high places."
Then, having achieved a brilliant polish with the towel, I looked
at the girl.
The Man in Lower Ten |
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 Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather: to the door with her. "Not hard to me, Winifred,"
he whispered. "Never, never hard to me."
Left alone, he paced up and down his
study. He was at home again, among all the
dear familiar things that spoke to him of so
many happy years. His house to-night would
be full of charming people, who liked and
admired him. Yet all the time, underneath his
pleasure and hopefulness and satisfaction, he
was conscious of the vibration of an unnatural
excitement. Amid this light and warmth and
Alexander's Bridge |
