| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: And warmed his knees before the fire
Until the hour when folks retire!
SO, IF YOU WOULD BE SPARED TO FRIENDS,
DO NOTHING BUT FOR BUSINESS ENDS.
Poem: V
Industrious pirate! see him sweep
The lonely bosom of the deep,
And daily the horizon scan
From Hatteras or Matapan.
Be sure, before that pirate's old,
He will have made a pot of gold,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: considered vile, outlandish beverages.
Little Britain has its long catalogue of city wonders, which its
inhabitants consider the wonders of the world: such as the
great bell of St. Paul's, which sours all the beer when it tolls;
the figures that strike the hours at St. Dunstan's clock; the
Monument; the lions in the Tower; and the wooden giants in
Guildhall. They still believe in dreams and fortune-telling, and
an old woman that lives in Bull-and-Mouth Street makes a
tolerable subsistence by detecting stolen goods, and promising
the girls good husbands. They are apt to be rendered
uncomfortable by comets and eclipses; and if a dog howls
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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 McTeague by Frank Norris: Get on to the size of him, anyhow. Ah, Mac's all right!"
Maria Macapa had come into the room while he had been
speaking. She was making up McTeague's bed. Suddenly Marcus
exclaimed under his breath: "Now we'll have some fun. It's
the girl that takes care of the rooms. She's a greaser, and
she's queer in the head. She ain't regularly crazy, but
I don't know, she's queer. Y'ought to hear her go on about
a gold dinner service she says her folks used to own. Ask
her what her name is and see what she'll say." Trina shrank
back, a little frightened.
"No, you ask," she whispered.
McTeague |
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 Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: the loveliest woman cannot rival. Even the coarsest lithograph of such
a scene makes a mother pause, and I feast my eyes daily on the living
picture!
Once out of doors, triumphant in the result of my labors, while I was
admiring the princely air with which little Armand helped baby to
totter along the path you know, I saw a carriage coming, and tried to
get them out of the way. The children tumbled into a dirty puddle, and
lo! my works of art are ruined! We had to take them back and change
their things. I took the little one in my arms, never thinking of my
own dress, which was ruined, while Mary seized Armand, and the
cavalcade re-entered. With a crying baby and a soaked child, what mind
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