| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: taunted them, and Edith smiled knowingly, and Bobby and Boyd made
playful remarks. All of which cut Helen's pride and hurt
Dorothy's vanity. They essayed open conquest of Stewart.
So it came about that Madeline unconsciously admitted the cowboy
to a place in her mind never occupied by any other. The instant
it occurred to her why he was proof against the wiles of the
other women she drove that amazing and strangely disturbing
thought from her. Nevertheless, as she was human, she could not
help thinking and being pleased and enjoying a little the
discomfiture of the two coquettes.
Moreover, from this thought of Stewart, and the watchfulness
The Light of Western Stars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: To the possession of great wealth with vice."
So pleasurable were these words to me
That I drew farther onward to have knowledge
Touching that spirit whence they seemed to come.
He furthermore was speaking of the largess
Which Nicholas unto the maidens gave,
In order to conduct their youth to honour.
"O soul that dost so excellently speak,
Tell me who wast thou," said I, "and why only
Thou dost renew these praises well deserved?
Not without recompense shall be thy word,
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: made a general of the highest class, and a principal adviser in his
councils. Nor did I spare myself in his service, but laboured by
day and night in the work of preparing the city for siege, and in
the marshalling of the troops, and more especially of that army of
Otomies, who came, as they had promised, to the number of twenty
thousand. The work was hard indeed, for these Indian tribes lacked
discipline and powers of unity, without which their thousands were
of little avail in a war with white men. Also there were great
jealousies between their leaders which must be overcome, and I was
myself an object of jealousy. Moreover, many tribes took this
occasion of the trouble of the Aztecs to throw off their allegiance
Montezuma's Daughter |
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 From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: certainty of reaching their destination. These bold travelers,
Michel Ardan, President Barbicane, and Captain Nicholl, ought to
make the passage in ninety-seven hours, thirteen minutes, and
twenty seconds. Consequently, their arrival on the lunar disc
could not take place until the 5th of December at twelve at night,
at the exact moment when the moon should be full, and not on the
4th, as some badly informed journalists had announced.
But an unforeseen circumstance, viz., the detonation produced
by the Columbiad, had the immediate effect of troubling the
terrestrial atmosphere, by accumulating a large quantity of
vapor, a phenomenon which excited universal indignation, for the
From the Earth to the Moon |
