| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: the skeletons of dead forests; ledge after ledge of ice-worn granite
thrust out like fangs into the foaming waves of the gulf. Nature,
with her teeth bare and her lips scarred: this was the landscape.
And in the midst of it, on a low hill above the murmuring river,
surrounded by the blanched trunks of fallen trees, and the blackened
debris of wood and moss, a small, square, weather-beaten palisade of
rough-hewn spruce, and a patch of the bright green leaves and white
flowers of the dwarf cornel lavishing their beauty on a lonely
grave. This was the only habitation in sight--the last home of the
Englishman, Jack Chisholm, whose story has yet to be told.
In the shelter of this hill Dan Scott cooked his supper and shared
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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 Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: The meal lasts quite twenty-four hours, if the joint be large; and
to the very end the butchered insect retains a remnant of life, a
favourable condition for the exhausting of the juices. Once again,
we see a skilful method of slaughter, very different from the
tactics in use among the expert paralyzers or slayers. Here there
is no display of anatomical science. Unacquainted with the
patient's structure, the Spider stabs at random. The virulence of
the poison does the rest.
There are, however, some very few cases in which the bite is
speedily mortal. My notes speak of an Angular Epeira grappling
with the largest Dragon-fly in my district (AEshna grandis, LIN.).
The Life of the Spider |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: with,
"T. A., do you realize that you're very likely to be a
step-grandfather some fine day not so far away!"
T. A. had gazed at her for a rather shocked moment, swallowed
hard, smiled, and said,
"Even that doesn't scare me, Emma."
Everything had been planned down to the last detail. Mrs.
McChesney's little apartment had been subleased, and a very smart
one taken and furnished almost complete, with Annie installed in
the kitchen and a demure parlor-maid engaged.
"When we come back, we'll come home," T. A. Buck had said.
Emma McChesney & Co. |
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 Gorgias by Plato: courageous and holy, cannot be other than a perfectly good man, nor can the
good man do otherwise than well and perfectly whatever he does; and he who
does well must of necessity be happy and blessed, and the evil man who does
evil, miserable: now this latter is he whom you were applauding--the
intemperate who is the opposite of the temperate. Such is my position, and
these things I affirm to be true. And if they are true, then I further
affirm that he who desires to be happy must pursue and practise temperance
and run away from intemperance as fast as his legs will carry him: he had
better order his life so as not to need punishment; but if either he or any
of his friends, whether private individual or city, are in need of
punishment, then justice must be done and he must suffer punishment, if he
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