| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: Kent thought a moment then walked toward his door; on its threshold
he paused, struck by a sudden idea.
"Did Colonel McIntyre come with Mrs. Brewster?" he asked.
"No, Mr. Kent; he came in while she was here."
"And they went off together," volunteered Mrs. Sylvester, who had
been a silent listener to their conversation. Kent started; he had
forgotten the woman. "Excuse me, Mr. Kent," she continued, and
stepped toward him. "I presume, likely, that you are very interested
in this charge of murder against your partner, Mr. Rochester."
"I am," affirmed Kent, as Mrs. Sylvester paused.
"I am too, sir," she confided to him. "Cause you see I was in the
The Red Seal |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: you please) go hand-in-hand through the different phrases of your
letter, and candidly examine each from the point of view of its
truth, its appositeness, and its charity.
Damien was COARSE.
It is very possible. You make us sorry for the lepers, who had
only a coarse old peasant for their friend and father. But you,
who were so refined, why were you not there, to cheer them with the
lights of culture? Or may I remind you that we have some reason to
doubt if John the Baptist were genteel; and in the case of Peter,
on whose career your doubtless dwell approvingly in the pulpit, no
doubt at all he was a "coarse, headstrong" fisherman! Yet even in
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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 Walden by Henry David Thoreau: citizens, in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, the author, after speaking of Walden and White Ponds, adds,
"In the middle of the latter may be seen, when the water is very
low, a tree which appears as if it grew in the place where it now
stands, although the roots are fifty feet below the surface of the
water; the top of this tree is broken off, and at that place
measures fourteen inches in diameter." In the spring of '49 I
talked with the man who lives nearest the pond in Sudbury, who told
me that it was he who got out this tree ten or fifteen years before.
As near as he could remember, it stood twelve or fifteen rods from
the shore, where the water was thirty or forty feet deep. It was in
Walden |
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 Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: me to this. If I was deceived and my marriage is no marriage
before the law as they tell me now, I knew nothing of it, therefore
to me it is still valid and holy and on my soul there rests no
stain. At the least I have lived, and for some few hours I have
been wife and mother, and it is as well to die swiftly in this cell
that your mercy has prepared, as more slowly in those above. And
now for you--I tell you that your wickedness shall find you out,
you who dare to say to God's children--"Ye shall not love," and to
work murder on them because they will not listen. It shall find
you out I say, and not only you but the Church you serve. Both
priest and Church shall be broken together and shall be a scorn in
Montezuma's Daughter |
