| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: Foreign Affairs, is to introduce the Princess Callimachi, Baroness
de Beust, and myself. She stations herself by the side of the Queen
and names us as we pass. The Queen spoke to none of us, but gave me
a very gracious smile, and when Mr. Bancroft came by, she said: "I
am very glad to have had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Bancroft to-
day." I was not [at] all frightened and gathered up my train with
as much self-possession as if I were alone. I found it very
entertaining afterward to watch the reception of the others. The
Diplomatic Corps remain through the whole, the ladies standing on
the left of the Queen and the gentlemen in the centre, but all
others pass out immediately. . . . On Sunday evening Mr. Bancroft
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: closely connected with the passions; and a board of arbitrators
who, for the general welfare of the race, are to be deprived of the
power of putting their decisions into execution, will not be of
much avail. There is only one thing worse than Injustice, and that
is Justice without her sword in her hand. When Right is not Might,
it is Evil.
No: the emotions will not make us cosmopolitan, any more than the
greed for gain could do so. It is only by the cultivation of the
habit of intellectual criticism that we shall be able to rise
superior to race-prejudices. Goethe - you will not misunderstand
what I say - was a German of the Germans. He loved his country -
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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 The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: o'clock, although there was almost never any work to be done till the
buyers out in the yards had gotten to work, and some cattle had come over
the chutes. That would often be ten or eleven o'clock, which was bad
enough, in all conscience; but now, in the slack season, they would
perhaps not have a thing for their men to do till late in the afternoon.
And so they would have to loaf around, in a place where the thermometer
might be twenty degrees below zero! At first one would see them running
about, or skylarking with each other, trying to keep warm; but before the
day was over they would become quite chilled through and exhausted, and,
when the cattle finally came, so near frozen that to move was an agony.
And then suddenly the place would spring into activity, and the merciless
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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 Lin McLean by Owen Wister: Barker. "And the Governor has let me carry it to Nate myself. He won't
know a thing about it till I tell him. The Governor was real kind, and we
will never forget him. I reckon Nate must have a mustache by now?" said
she to Lin.
"Yes," Lin answered, gruffly, looking away from her, "he has got a
mustache all right."
"He'll be glad to see you," said I, for something to say.
"Of course he will! How many hours did you say we will be?" she asked
Lin, turning from me again, for Mr. McLean had not been losing time. It
was plain that between these two had arisen a freemasonry from which I
was already shut out. Her woman's heart had answered his right impulse to
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