| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: "Ah, Mr. Gilbert! since first he went to Guinea after those poor
negroes, little lightness has my heart known; and the very day that
that crest was put up in our grand new house, as the parson read
the first lesson, there was this text in it, Mr. Gilbert, 'Woe to
him that buildeth his house by iniquity, and his chambers by wrong.
Shalt thou live because thou closest thyself in cedar?' And it
went into my ears like fire, Mr. Gilbert, and into my heart like
lead; and when the parson went on, 'Did not thy father eat and
drink, and do judgment and justice? Then it was well with him,' I
thought of good old Captain Will; and--I tell you, Mr. Gilbert,
those negroes are on my soul from morning until night! We are all
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: They eat up the chicken food, and
steal the oats and bran, and make
holes in the meal bags.
And they are all descended from
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Whiskers--
children and grandchildren and
great-great-grandchildren.
There is no end to them!
Moppet and Mittens have grown up
into very good rat-catchers.
They go out rat-catching in the
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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 Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: pulp modify every question at once. Suppose that you have in a caldron
a quantity of ingredients of some kind (I don't ask to know what they
are), you can do as you like with them, the treatment can be uniformly
applied, you can manipulate, knead, and pestle the mass at your
pleasure until you have a homogeneous substance. But who will
guarantee that it will be the same with a batch of five hundred reams,
and that your plan will succeed in bulk?"
David, Eve, and Petit-Claud looked at one another; their eyes said
many things.
"Take a somewhat similar case," continued the tall Cointet after a
pause. "You cut two or three trusses of meadow hay, and store it in a
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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 Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: and ability would find an outlet. Poets and men of science are not
wanted.
"To give you an idea of the stupidity of the new court, I will tell
you of something which happened to La Palferine. There is a sort of
relieving officer on the civil list. This functionary one day
discovered that La Palferine was in dire distress, drew up a report,
no doubt, and brought the descendant of the Rusticolis fifty francs by
way of alms. La Palferine received the visitor with perfect courtesy,
and talked of various persons at court.
" 'Is it true,' he asked, 'that Mlle. d'Orleans contributes such and
such a sum to this benevolent scheme started by her nephew? If so, it
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