| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: to defend. 'It is almost decent,' said he; 'the sisters will make
that all right when we get them here.' " And yet I gathered it was
already better since Damien was dead, and far better than when he
was there alone and had his own (not always excellent) way. I have
now come far enough to meet you on a common ground of fact; and I
tell you that, to a mind not prejudiced by jealousy, all the
reforms of the lazaretto, and even those which he most vigorously
opposed, are properly the work of Damien. They are the evidence of
his success; they are what his heroism provoked from the reluctant
and the careless. Many were before him in the field; Mr. Meyer,
for instance, of whose faithful work we hear too little: there have
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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 Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: woodland lakes gleamed out among the trees. Then the road began to
slope gently towards the west, and emerged suddenly on the edge of
the forest, looking out over the long, lovely vale of Valders, with
snow-touched mountains on the horizon, and the river Baegna
shimmering along its bed, a thousand feet below us.
What a heart-enlarging outlook! What a keen joy of motion, as the
wheels rolled down the long incline, and the sure-footed pony swung
between the shafts and rattled his hoofs merrily on the hard road!
What long, deep breaths of silent pleasure in the crisp night air!
What wondrous mingling of lights in the afterglow of sunset, and the
primrose bloom of the first stars, and faint foregleamings of the
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