| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: it.'"
"But Ethel did not smile. 'Richard,' she said, 'I do wish you had more
investments with ordinary simple names, like New York and New Haven, or
Chicago and Northwestern.' And when I told her that I thought this was
really unreasonable, she was firm. 'Yes,' she replied, 'I don't like the
names--not most of them, at least. Dutchess and Columbia Traction sounds
pretty well; and besides that, of course one knows how successful these
electric railways are. But take the Standard Egg Trust, and the Patent
Pasteurised Infant Rubber Feeder Company.'"
"'Why, Ethel!' I exclaimed, 'those are both based upon great inventions,
Mr. Beverly--'"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: a day that had been passed in Paradise, and of a night that was to be
heaven opened. All night she seemed to be conveyed smoothly upon a
shallow stream of sleep and waking, and through the bowers of Beulah;
all night she cherished to her heart that exquisite hope; and if,
towards morning, she forgot it a while in a more profound
unconsciousness, it was to catch again the rainbow thought with her
first moment of awaking.
CHAPTER VII - ENTER MEPHISTOPHELES
TWO days later a gig from Crossmichael deposited Frank Innes at the
doors of Hermiston. Once in a way, during the past winter, Archie, in
some acute phase of boredom, had written him a letter. It had contained
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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 Philebus by Plato: a divine being is that of a despot acting not wholly without regard to law
and order. To such a view the present mixed state of the world, not wholly
evil or wholly good, is supposed to be a witness. More we might desire to
have, but are not permitted. Though a human tyrant would be intolerable, a
divine tyrant is a very tolerable governor of the universe. This is the
doctrine of Thrasymachus adapted to the public opinion of modern times.
There is yet a third view which combines the two:--freedom is obedience to
the law, and the greatest order is also the greatest freedom; 'Act so that
thy action may be the law of every intelligent being.' This view is noble
and elevating; but it seems to err, like other transcendental principles of
ethics, in being too abstract. For there is the same difficulty in
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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 Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: task and turn again toward the room's center.
Scarcely thirty steps, all told, must I take, and yet it
seemed to my overwrought imagination that that farther wall was
miles away; but at last I reached it, nor once had I taken my eyes
from the back of the old miser's head.
He did not turn until my hand was upon the button that controlled
the door through which my way led, and then he turned away
from me as I passed through and gently closed the door.
The Warlord of Mars |
