| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: thousand points; for how differently have I been trained from these
women of high rank, and men, too, with whom I am now thrown." Upon
all topics we are accustomed to think, perhaps, with more latitude,
religion, politics, morals, everything. I like the English
extremely, even more than I expected, and yet happy am I to think
that our own best portions of society can bear a comparison with
theirs. When I see you I can explain to you the differences, but I
think we need not be ashamed of ourselves.
LETTER: To I.P.D.
LONDON, January 2, 1847
My dear Uncle: . . . I refer you to my letters to my boys, for 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 Atheist's Mass by Honore de Balzac: extracted my secrets with a quiet craftiness and good nature, of
which the remembrance touches my heart to this day, he gave up
for a time the ambition of his whole life; for twenty-two years
he had been carrying water in the street, and he now devoted his
hundred crowns to my future prospects."
Desplein at these words clutched Bianchon's arm tightly. "He gave
me the money for my examination fees! That man, my friend,
understood that I had a mission, that the needs of my intellect
were greater than his. He looked after me, he called me his boy,
he lent me money to buy books, he would come in softly sometimes
to watch me at work, and took a mother's care in seeing that I
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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 The Call of the Wild by Jack London: country with a certitude of direction that put man and his
magnetic needle to shame.
As he held on he became more and more conscious of the new stir in
the land. There was life abroad in it different from the life
which had been there throughout the summer. No longer was this
fact borne in upon him in some subtle, mysterious way. The birds
talked of it, the squirrels chattered about it, the very breeze
whispered of it. Several times he stopped and drew in the fresh
morning air in great sniffs, reading a message which made him leap
on with greater speed. He was oppressed with a sense of calamity
happening, if it were not calamity already happened; and as he
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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 Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: at them with his dagger, the blade of which fortunately slipped on the
corselet of a guard; then, having disarmed him, they bound his hands,
and threw him on the pallet before their leader, who stood motionless
and thoughtful.
Tristan looked silently at the prisoner's hands, then he said to
Cornelius, pointing to them:--
"Those are not the hands of a beggar, nor of an apprentice. He is a
noble."
"Say a thief!" cried the torconnier. "My good Tristan, noble or serf,
he has ruined me, the villain! I want to see his feet warmed in your
pretty boots. He is, I don't doubt it, the leader of that gang of
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