| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: thrown into prison in your city, subjected to the atrocious
oppression of your jailer, and the more detestable oppression of
your local laws. The charges against him were thought even to
affect his life, and he was humbled into suing for permission to
send for his wife and children. Already, to his proud spirit, it
was punishment enough that he should be reduced to sue for favor to
one of his bitterest foes. But it was no part of their plan to
refuse THAT. By way of expediting my mother's arrival, a military
courier, with every facility for the journey, was forwarded to her
without delay. My mother, her two daughters, and myself, were then
residing in Venice. I had, through the aid of my father's
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: from Liban and many of the old soldiers of Herod's army; a dozen
Thracians, a Greek and two Germans; besides huntsmen and herdsmen, the
Sultan of Palmyra, and sailors from Eziongaber. Before each guest was
placed a roll of soft bread, upon which to wipe the fingers. As soon
as they were seated, hands were stretched out with the eagerness of a
vulture's claws, seizing upon olives, pistachios, and almonds. Every
face was joyous, every head was crowned with flowers, except those of
the Pharisees, who refused to wear the wreaths, regarding them as a
symbol of Roman voluptuousness and vice. They shuddered when the
attendants sprinkled them with galburnum and incense, the use of which
the Pharisees reserved strictly for services in the Temple.
Herodias |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: find a curious mixture of motives impelling in this direction.
Asceticism plays its part; and along with charity pure and
simple, we find humility or the desire to disclaim distinction
and to grovel on the common level before God. Certainly all
three principles were at work when Francis of Assisi and Ignatius
Loyola exchanged their garments with those of filthy beggars.
All three are at work when religious persons consecrate their
lives to the care of leprosy or other peculiarly unpleasant
diseases. The nursing of the sick is a function to which the
religious seem strongly drawn, even apart from the fact that
church traditions set that way. But in the annals of this sort
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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 Arizona Nights by Stewart Edward White: chantey."
A heavy pause fell. Finally the stranger sighed.
"Quite like," he said; "I never heard but one man sing it."
"Who in hell are you?" someone demanded out of the darkness.
Before replying, the newcomer lit a third match, searching for a
place to sit down. As he bent forward, his strong, harsh face
once more came clearly into view.
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