| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: front. On all side embassies from the surrounding nations came to make
terms of friendship, and numbers even came over to him, stretching out
eager arms to grasp at freedom. So that Agesilaus was now no longer
the chosen captain of the Hellenes only, but of many Asiatics.
And here we may pause and consider what a weight of admiration is due
to one who, being now ruler over countless cities of the continent,
and islands also (since the state had further entrusted the navy to
his hands), just when he had reached this pinnacle of renown and
power, and might look to turn to account his thronging fortunes; when,
too, which overtops all else, he was cherishing fond hopes to dissolve
that empire which in former days had dared to march on Hellas;--at
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: head. 'Well,' says I, 'you talk o' Bony's cliverness; would it be
any use my being a first-rate gardener if I'd got nought but a
quagmire to work on?' 'No,' says he. 'Well,' I says, 'that's
just what it is wi' Bony. I'll not deny but he may be a bit
cliver--he's no Frenchman born, as I understand--but what's he got
at's back but mounseers?'"
Mr. Craig paused a moment with an emphatic stare after this
triumphant specimen of Socratic argument, and then added, thumping
the table rather fiercely, "Why, it's a sure thing--and there's
them 'ull bear witness to't--as i' one regiment where there was
one man a-missing, they put the regimentals on a big monkey, and
Adam Bede |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest: Some folks leave home for money
And some leave home for fame,
Some seek skies always sunny,
And some depart in shame.
I care not what the reason
Men travel east and west,
Or what the month or season --
The home-town is the best.
The home-town is the glad town
Where something real abides;
'Tis not the money-mad town
A Heap O' Livin' |
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 The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: express the exaltation of the soul in the presence of the glory
of the ever-living God, became the utterance of a heart almost
terrified by its gladness in the presence of the glory of a
mortal love; a love that yet lived, a love that had risen to
trouble her even beyond the grave in which the nun is laid, that
she may rise again as the bride of Christ.
The organ is in truth the grandest, the most daring, the most
magnificent of all instruments invented by human genius. It is a
whole orchestra in itself. It can express anything in response
to a skilled touch. Surely it is in some sort a pedestal on
which the soul poises for a flight forth into space, essaying on
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