| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: the way. A little farther on, and it is as like as not he
will begin to sing. And well for him, supposing him to be no
great master in that art, if he stumble across no stolid
peasant at a corner; for on such an occasion, I scarcely know
which is the more troubled, or whether it is worse to suffer
the confusion of your troubadour, or the unfeigned alarm of
your clown. A sedentary population, accustomed, besides, to
the strange mechanical bearing of the common tramp, can in no
wise explain to itself the gaiety of these passers-by. I knew
one man who was arrested as a runaway lunatic, because,
although a full-grown person with a red beard, he skipped as
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Ah! You are ver-y much like my-self," said
Tik-Tok. "The on-ly dif-fer-ence is that I move
by clock-work, while you move by fire."
"I don't see a particle of likeness between us,
I must confess," retorted Quox, gruffly. "You are
not a live thing; you're a dummy."
"But I can do things, you must ad-mit," said
Tik-Tok.
"Yes, when you are wound up," sneered the
dragon. "But if you run down, you are helpless."
"What would happen to you, Quox, if you ran
Tik-Tok of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Call of the Wild by Jack London: developed such acuteness that in his sleep he heard the faintest
sound and knew whether it heralded peace or peril. He learned to
bite the ice out with his teeth when it collected between his
toes; and when he was thirsty and there was a thick scum of ice
over the water hole, he would break it by rearing and striking it
with stiff fore legs. His most conspicuous trait was an ability to
scent the wind and forecast it a night in advance. No matter how
breathless the air when he dug his nest by tree or bank, the wind
that later blew inevitably found him to leeward, sheltered and
snug.
And not only did he learn by experience, but instincts long dead
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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 Touchstone by Edith Wharton: her just where it serves most women and one felt that her brains
would never be a guide to her heart. Of all this, however,
Glennard thought little in the first year of their acquaintance.
He was at an age when all the gifts and graces are but so much
undiscriminated food to the ravening egoism of youth. In seeking
Mrs. Aubyn's company he was prompted by an intuitive taste for the
best as a pledge of his own superiority. The sympathy of the
cleverest woman in Hillbridge was balm to his craving for
distinction: it was public confirmation of his secret sense that
he was cut out for a bigger place. It must not be understood that
Glennard was vain. Vanity contents itself with the coarsest diet;
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