| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: three miles from Shanghai. The pilot swore an angry oath; the reward of
two hundred pounds was evidently on the point of escaping him. He looked
at Mr. Fogg. Mr. Fogg was perfectly tranquil; and yet his whole fortune
was at this moment at stake.
At this moment, also, a long black funnel, crowned with wreaths of smoke,
appeared on the edge of the waters. It was the American steamer,
leaving for Yokohama at the appointed time.
"Confound her!" cried John Bunsby, pushing back the rudder
with a desperate jerk.
"Signal her!" said Phileas Fogg quietly.
A small brass cannon stood on the forward deck of the Tankadere,
Around the World in 80 Days |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: varnished boots.
"You Northern men have nothing but physical courage," she said
complainingly; "you have no constancy in your opinions."
"How will you amuse yourself alone, madame?" said Paz, assuming a
careless air.
"Are not you going to keep me company?"
"Excuse me for leaving you."
"What do you mean? Where are you going?"
The thought of a heroic falsehood had come into his head.
"I--I am going to the Circus in the Champs Elysees; it opens to-night,
and I can't miss it."
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: nestled by him as he sat holding the tiller. She put her face
against his knee, like a tired child, and shut her eyes; her
hair was lifted by the summer breeze; a scent of roses came
from her; the mere contact of anything so fresh and pure was a
delight. He put his arm around her, and all the first ardor of
passion came back to him again; he remembered how he had longed
to win this Diana, and how thoroughly she was won.
"It is you who do me good," said she. "O Philip, sail as
slowly as you can." But he only sailed farther, instead of more
slowly, gliding in and out among the rocky islands in the light
north wind, which, for a wonder, lasted all that day,--dappling
|
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 Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: handsome silks, judiciously employed, and valuable pictures favorably
hung; some by the Genoese priest, known as /il Capucino/, several by
Leonardo da Vinci, Carlo Dolci, Tintoretto, and Titian.
The shelving gardens were full of the marvels where money has been
turned into rocky grottoes and patterns of shells,--the very madness
of craftsmanship,--terraces laid out by the fairies, arbors of sterner
aspect, where the cypress on its tall trunk, the triangular pines, and
the melancholy olive mingled pleasingly with orange trees, bays, and
myrtles, and clear pools in which blue or russet fishes swam. Whatever
may be said in favor of the natural or English garden, these trees,
pruned into parasols, and yews fantastically clipped; this luxury of
|
