| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: "Linda--?"
"Well, when I kep' getting worse, and he was always off, for
days at a time, the doctor had me sent to a hospital."
"A hospital? Sister--sister!"
"It was better than being with him; and the doctors were real
kind to me. After the baby was born I was very sick and had to
stay there a good while. And one day when I was laying there Mrs.
Hochmuller came in as white as a sheet, and told me him and Linda
had gone off together and taken all her money. That's the last I
ever saw of him." She broke off with a laugh and began to cough
again.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger: charity.[1]
Mr. Bland further points out: ``The problem presented is one with
which neither humanitarian nor religious zeal can ever cope, so long
as we fail to recognize and attack the fundamental cause of these
calamities. As a matter of sober fact, the benevolent activities of
our missionary societies to reduce the deathrate by the prevention of
infanticide and the checking of disease, actually serve in the end to
aggravate the pressure of population upon its food-supply and to
increase the severity of the inevitably resultant catastrophe. What
is needed for the prevention, or, at least, the mitigation of these
scourges, is an organized educational propaganda, directed first
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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 Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: existence of inactivity had robbed her of all joy in strenuous exertion and
endurance in any form. Finely clad, tenderly housed, life became for her
merely the gratification of her own physical and sexual appetites, and the
appetites of the male, through the stimulation of which she could maintain
herself. And, whether as kept wife, kept mistress, or prostitute, she
contributed nothing to the active and sustaining labours of her society.
She had attained to the full development of that type which, whether in
modern Paris or New York or London, or in ancient Greece, Assyria, or Rome,
is essentially one in its features, its nature, and its results. She was
the "fine lady," the human female parasite - the most deadly microbe which
can make its appearance on the surface of any social organism. (The
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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 Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: sorrow. And yet--for all my resignation, there are moments when my
courage fails me. This very day I was almost overcome in your presence
by inward anguish; you did not notice it but----"
Genestas started in his chair.
"Yes, Captain Bluteau, you were with me at the time. Do you remember
how, while we were putting little Jacques to bed, you pointed to the
mattress on which Mother Colas sleeps? Well, you can imagine how
painful it all was; I can never see any child without thinking of the
dear child I have lost, and this little one was doomed to die! I can
never see a child with indifferent eyes----"
Genestas turned pale.
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