| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: visible breath, something like a thin fog, a puff of faint
haze, rose from the opening. The ascending air was hot,
and had a heavy, sooty, paraffiny smell. I gave one sniff,
and put down the lid gently. It was no use choking my-
self. The cargo was on fire.
"Next day she began to smoke in earnest. You see it
was to be expected, for though the coal was of a safe
kind, that cargo had been so handled, so broken up with
handling, that it looked more like smithy coal than any-
thing else. Then it had been wetted--more than once.
It rained all the time we were taking it back from the
Youth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: drawn back upon its cradle preparatory to firing. In some
instances the barrel is compressed against a spring, but in the
more modern guns it is forced to rest against a cushion of
compressed air contained within a cylinder. When first bringing
the gun into action, the barrel is brought into the preliminary
position by manually compressing the air or spring by means of a
lever. Thereafter the gun works automatically. When the gun is
fired the barrel is released and it flies forward. At a critical
point in its forward travel the charge is fired and the
projectile speeds on its way. The kick or recoil serves to
arrest the forward movement of the barrel and finally drives it
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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 Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: the best of the two sexes, and when she was compelled to deny the
more intimate appeal, it was done with such frank sorrow, such
delicate tenderness, that she never lost the friend in losing
the lover. But, as one year after another went by, and the younger
members of her family fell off into their separate domestic orbits,
she began to shrink a little at the perspective of a lonely life,
growing lonelier as it receded from the Present.
By this time, Leonard Clare had become almost a dream to her. She
had neither seen him nor heard of him since he let go her hand on
that memorable evening beside the stream. He was a strange,
bewildering chance, a cypher concealing a secret which she could
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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 Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: July.
On that evening chance had brought together several persons, whose
indisputable merits have won them European reputations. This is not a
piece of flattery addressed to France, for there were a good many
foreigners present. And, indeed, the men who most shone were not the
most famous. Ingenious repartee, acute remarks, admirable banter,
pictures sketched with brilliant precision, all sparkled and flowed
without elaboration, were poured out without disdain, but without
effort, and were exquisitely expressed and delicately appreciated. The
men of the world especially were conspicuous for their really artistic
grace and spirit.
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