| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Reminiscences of Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy: his mother's name, Fet, for a time, owing to official
difficulties about his birth-certificate. An intimate friend of
Tolstoy's.
&sup4;The "Sovreménnik," or "Contemporary Review,"
edited by the poet Mekrasof, was the rallying-place for the "men
of the forties," the new school of realists. Ostróvsky is
the dramatist; Gontcharóf the novelist, author of
"Oblómof"; Grigoróvitch wrote tales about peasant
life, and was the discoverer of Tchékhof's talent as a
serious writer.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Were transformed to robes of ermine,
And her staff became a feather,
Yes, a shining silver feather!
"And again the wigwam trembled,
Swayed and rushed through airy currents,
Through transparent cloud and vapor,
And amid celestial splendors
On the Evening Star alighted,
As a snow-flake falls on snow-flake,
As a leaf drops on a river,
As the thistledown on water.
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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 La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: peal of bells, put him on his guard; he looked at his wife, and read
in her eyes an indescribably anxious and haunted expression.
" 'You are very late,' said she.--Her voice, usually so clear and
sweet, struck him as being slightly husky.
"Monsieur de Merret made no reply, for at this moment Rosalie came in.
This was like a thunder-clap. He walked up and down the room, going
from one window to another at a regular pace, his arms folded.
" 'Have you had bad news, or are you ill?' his wife asked him timidly,
while Rosalie helped her to undress. He made no reply.
" 'You can go, Rosalie,' said Madame de Merret to her maid; 'I can put
in my curl-papers myself.'--She scented disaster at the mere aspect of
La Grande Breteche |
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 A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: the first place in the widow Crochard's affections. The widow,
evidently in the enjoyment of a thousand crowns a year, would not have
been so fondly cherished by this feminine trio, but that neither of
them, nor Francoise herself knew of her having any heir. The wealth
enjoyed by Mademoiselle de Bellefeuille, whom Madame Crochard, in
obedience to the traditions of the older opera, never allowed herself
to speak of by the affectionate name of daughter, almost justified the
four women in their scheme of dividing among themselves the old
woman's "pickings."
Presently the one of these three sibyls who kept guard over the sick
woman came shaking her head at the other anxious two, and said:
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