| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: in short, and you could desire no better image of the Mammon of
copper coin, symbolizing the grossest form of the love of money.
Neither was there any possibility of satisfying the covetous
little devil. Phoebe threw down a whole handful of cents,
which he picked up with joyless eagerness, handed them over
to the Italian for safekeeping, and immediately recommenced
a series of pantomimic petitions for more.
Doubtless, more than one New-Englander--or, let him be of what
country he might, it is as likely to be the case--passed by,
and threw a look at the monkey, and went on, without imagining
how nearly his own moral condition was here exemplified. Clifford,
House of Seven Gables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: Run for the winch and unscrew the carriage pole! Cut the trace here,
somebody, if you can't unhitch it!" One of the footmen ran for the winch,
and another brought a knife from the house. The groom soon set me free
from Ginger and the carriage, and led me to my box. He just turned me in
as I was and ran back to York. I was much excited by what had happened,
and if I had ever been used to kick or rear I am sure I should have
done it then; but I never had, and there I stood, angry, sore in my leg,
my head still strained up to the terret on the saddle,
and no power to get it down. I was very miserable and felt much inclined
to kick the first person who came near me.
Before long, however, Ginger was led in by two grooms, a good deal
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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 The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Heard the sighing of the branches,
As they lifted and subsided
At the passing of the night-wind,
Heard them, as one hears in slumber
Far-off murmurs, dreamy whispers:
Peacefully slept Hiawatha.
On the morrow came Nokomis,
On the seventh day of his fasting,
Came with food for Hiawatha,
Came imploring and bewailing,
Lest his hunger should o'ercome him,
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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 A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: there was a fly in the ointment. The double error of unnecessary
stealth and of the immixture of a trading company in political
affairs, has vitiated, and in the end defeated, much German policy.
And Brandeis was introduced to the islands as a clerk, and sent
down to Leulumoenga (where he was soon drilling the troops and
fortifying the position of the rebel king) as an agent of the
German firm. What this mystification cost in the end I shall tell
in another place; and even in the beginning, it deceived no one.
Brandeis is a man of notable personal appearance; he looks the part
allotted him; and the military clerk was soon the centre of
observation and rumour. Malietoa wrote and complained of his
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