| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: Mr. Edwards, the keeper, an elderly man and a worthy, readily
complied. It chanced they were no sooner in the room where the
regalia was kept, than the lady found herself taken suddenly and
unaccountably ill, and indeed feared she must die; before bidding
adieu to life, she begged for a little whisky. This was promptly
brought her, and Mrs. Edwards, who now appeared upon the scene,
invited the poor gentlewoman to rest upon her bed. Whilst she
complied with this kind request, the clergyman and Edwards had
time to improve their acquaintance, which indeed bade fair
towards speedily ripening into friendship.
And presently the lady recovering, she and her spouse took their
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: Rigou's house, the handsomest in the village, was built of the large
rubble-stone peculiar to Burgundy, imbedded in yellow mortar smoothed
by the trowel, which produced an uneven surface, still further broken
here and there by projecting points of the stone, which was mostly
black. A band of cement, in which no stones were allowed to show,
surrounded each window with a sort of frame, where time had made some
slight, capricious cracks, such as appear on plastered ceilings. The
outer blinds, of a clumsy pattern, were noticeable for their color,
which was dragon-green. A few mosses grew among the slates of the
roof. The type is that of Burgundian homesteads; the traveller will
see thousands like it when visiting this part of France.
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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 A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: And winter comes with pinching toes,
When in the garden bare and brown
You must lay your barrow down.
Well now, and while the summer stays,
To profit by these garden days
O how much wiser you would be
To play at Indian wars with me!
VIII
Historical Associations
Dear Uncle Jim. this garden ground
That now you smoke your pipe around,
A Child's Garden of Verses |
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 Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: hoping other people don't quite think it is. I suppose you
think I have an awful temper, but I couldn't help it.
When she said those things something just rose right up in
me and choked me. I HAD to fly out at her."
"Well, you made a fine exhibition of yourself I must say.
Mrs. Lynde will have a nice story to tell about you
everywhere--and she'll tell it, too. It was a dreadful thing
for you to lose your temper like that, Anne."
"Just imagine how you would feel if somebody told you to your
face that you were skinny and ugly," pleaded Anne tearfully.
An old remembrance suddenly rose up before Marilla.
Anne of Green Gables |
