| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: as the medium of advancement and prosperity in this world or
preparation for the next. His custom rapidly diminished--a
misfortune, however, that was probably reckoned among his better
accidents by Owen Warland, who was becoming more and more
absorbed in a secret occupation which drew all his science and
manual dexterity into itself, and likewise gave full employment
to the characteristic tendencies of his genius. This pursuit had
already consumed many months.
After the old watchmaker and his pretty daughter had gazed at him
out of the obscurity of the street, Owen Warland was seized with
a fluttering of the nerves, which made his hand tremble too
 Mosses From An Old Manse |
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 Agesilaus by Xenophon: from the king the surer the gain to Hellas, he did not suffer himself
to be seduced, either by gifts or by the mightiness in his power, to
be drawn into bonds of friendship with the king, but took precaution
rather not to abuse their confidence who were willing to revolt.
And lastly, as beyond all controversy admirable, note this contrast:
First, the Persian, who, believing that in the multitude of his riches
he had power to lay all things under his feet, would fain have swept
into his coffers all the gold and all the silver of mankind: for him,
and him alone, the costliest and most precious things of earth. And
then this other, who contrariwise so furnished his establishment as to
be totally independent of every adventitious aid.[5] And if any one
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