| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: "Such a charming lady in a grey silk dress and a hand as white as
snow. She looked at me through such funny glasses on the end of a
long handle. A very great lady but her voice was as kind as the
voice of a saint. I have never seen anything like that. She made
me feel so timid."
The voice uttering these words was the voice of Therese and I
looked at her from a bed draped heavily in brown silk curtains
fantastically looped up from ceiling to floor. The glow of a
sunshiny day was toned down by closed jalousies to a mere
transparency of darkness. In this thin medium Therese's form
appeared flat, without detail, as if cut out of black paper. It
The Arrow of Gold |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: and on the next day after, repeating his visit, Winterbourne again
had the misfortune not to find them. Mrs. Walker's party took place
on the evening of the third day, and, in spite of the frigidity of his
last interview with the hostess, Winterbourne was among the guests.
Mrs. Walker was one of those American ladies who, while residing abroad,
make a point, in their own phrase, of studying European society,
and she had on this occasion collected several specimens of her
diversely born fellow mortals to serve, as it were, as textbooks.
When Winterbourne arrived, Daisy Miller was not there, but in a few
moments he saw her mother come in alone, very shyly and ruefully.
Mrs. Miller's hair above her exposed-looking temples was more frizzled
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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 Laches by Plato: would have been upheld, and the great defeat would never have occurred.
LYSIMACHUS: That is very high praise which is accorded to you, Socrates,
by faithful witnesses and for actions like those which they praise. Let me
tell you the pleasure which I feel in hearing of your fame; and I hope that
you will regard me as one of your warmest friends. You ought to have
visited us long ago, and made yourself at home with us; but now, from this
day forward, as we have at last found one another out, do as I say--come
and make acquaintance with me, and with these young men, that I may
continue your friend, as I was your father's. I shall expect you to do so,
and shall venture at some future time to remind you of your duty. But what
say you of the matter of which we were beginning to speak--the art of
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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 Common Sense by Thomas Paine: already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible,
that Britain would never suffer an American man of war to be built,
while the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore, we should be no
forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch, than we are now;
but the truth is, we should be less so, because the timber of the country
is every day diminishing, and that, which will remain at last,
will be far off and difficult to procure.
Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under
the present circumstances would be intolerable. The more seaport towns
we had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. Our present
numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be idle.
Common Sense |
