| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: almost without division. There seem to be only two--the wet
and the dry; but if you look closely below the torrents of
rain and the clouds of char and dust you will find all four
going round in their regular ring. Spring is the most wonderful,
because she has not to cover a clean, bare field with new leaves
and flowers, but to drive before her and to put away the
hanging-on, over-surviving raffle of half-green things which
the gentle winter has suffered to live, and to make the
partly-dressed stale earth feel new and young once more.
And this she does so well that there is no spring in the world
like the Jungle spring.
The Second Jungle Book |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: but if the boys did I was not going to complain.
My practice of studying at night offended my roommates. The
lamplight got in their eyes. There were three fellows in the room
besides myself. For several nights they advised me to "cut out
the higher education, douse that light and come to bed." Finally
they spoke about it in the daytime. "Majority rules," they said,
"and there's three of us against you. We can't sleep while you
have that lamp burning. The light keeps us awake and it also
makes the room so hot that the devil couldn't stand it. If you
stay up reading to-night we'll give you the bum's rush."
I was so interested in my books that I couldn't help lingering
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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 Camille by Alexandre Dumas: hands with me and said good-bye. Prudence remained behind.
"Well," said Gaston, when we were in the street, "what do you
think of Marguerite?"
"She is an angel, and I am madly in love with her." "So I
guessed; did you tell her so?"
"Yes."
"And did she promise to believe you?"
"No."
"She is not like Prudence."
"Did she promise to?"
"Better still, my dear fellow. You wouldn't think it; but she is
Camille |
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 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: Balashev, feeling it incumbent on him to reply, said that from the
Russian side things did not appear in so gloomy a light. Napoleon
was silent, still looking derisively at him and evidently not
listening to him. Balashev said that in Russia the best results were
expected from the war. Napoleon nodded condescendingly, as if to
say, "I know it's your duty to say that, but you don't believe it
yourself. I have convinced you."
When Balashev had ended, Napoleon again took out his snuffbox,
sniffed at it, and stamped his foot twice on the floor as a signal.
The door opened, a gentleman-in-waiting, bending respectfully,
handed the Emperor his hat and gloves; another brought hima pocket
War and Peace |
