| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart: cross of adhesive plaster on his cheek and that one eye was
almost shut. He smiled when he saw my expression.
"It's the temperament," he said. "It goes with the hair. I've
got it too, only I'm apt to go out and pick a fight at such
times, and a woman hasn't got that outlet. As you see, I found
Mike, and my disfigurement is to Mike's as starlight to the
noonday glare. Come and take a walk."
I shook my head, but he took my arm and pulled me off the bed.
"You come for a walk!" he said. "I'll wait in the hall until you
powder your nose. You look like a fire that's been put out by a
rain-storm."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: I do not know. Yes. I suppose I am. I eat, and drink, and
sleep, just as dogs and cats do.
Yes. There is no denying that. No one knew that better than St.
Paul when he told men that they had a flesh; that is, a body, and
an animal's nature in them. But St. Paul told them--of course he
was not the first to say so, for all the wise heathens have known
that--that there was something more in us, which he called a
spirit. Some call it now the moral sentiment, some one thing,
some another, but we will keep to the old word: we shall not find
a better.
Yes, I know that I have a spirit, a soul.
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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 Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: trivial in themselves, but the outcome of a thousand little previous
incidents, of which the importance is immense, as an epitome of the
past and as a link with the future. A hundred times already we have
felt the preciousness of the one we love; but a trifle--the perfect
touch of two souls united during a walk perhaps by a single word, by
some unlooked-for proof of affection, will carry the feeling to its
supremest pitch. In short, to express this truth by an image which has
been pre-eminently successful from the earliest ages of the world,
there are in a long chain points of attachment needed where the
cohesion is stronger than in the intermediate loops of rings. This
recognition between Rodolphe and Francesca, at this party, in the face
Albert Savarus |
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 Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: drove his spurs into the sides of his horse, and in instant
answer felt the noble steed spring forward with a bound.
Through all the clashing of his armor reverberating in the hollow
depths of his helmet, he saw the mail-clad figure from the other
end of the lists rushing towards him, looming larger and larger
as they came together. He gripped his saddle with his knees,
clutched the stirrup with the soles of his feet, and bent his
body still more forward. In the instant of meeting, with almost
the blindness of instinct, he dropped the point of his spear
against the single red flower-de-luce in the middle of the
on-coming shield. There was a thunderous crash that seemed to
Men of Iron |
