| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: nearness: it was torture to listen to her breathing, and feel the
sheet stir with it. As Lily turned, and settled to completer
rest, a strand of her hair swept Gerty's cheek with its
fragrance. Everything about her was warm and soft and scented:
even the stains of her grief became her as rain-drops do the
beaten rose. But as Gerty lay with arms drawn down her side, in
the motionless narrowness of an effigy, she felt a stir of sobs
from the breathing warmth beside her, and Lily flung out her
hand, groped for her friend's, and held it fast.
"Hold me, Gerty, hold me, or I shall think of things," she
moaned; and Gerty silently slipped an arm under her, pillowing
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: state exchequer. And to secure this augmentation of the revenues, mind
you, not the outlay of one single penny; nothing needed beyond one or
two philanthropic measures and certain details of supervision.[9]
[8] See Zurborg, "Comm." p. 24.
[9] See Aristot. "Pol." iv. 15, 3.
With regard to the other sources of revenue which I contemplate, I
admit, it is different. For these I recognise the necessity of a
capital[10] to begin with. I am not, however, without good hope that
the citizens of this state will contribute heartily to such an object,
when I reflect on the large sums subscribed by the state on various
late occasions, as, for instance, when reinforcements were sent to the
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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 Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: Atal, however, did not
know how to find Ngranek on its isle of Oriab; and recommended
that Carter follow the singing Skai under its bridges down to
the Southern Sea; where no burgess of Ulthar has ever been, but
whence the merchants come in boats or with long caravans of mules
and two-wheeled carts. There is a great city there, Dylath-Leen,
but in Ulthar its reputation is bad because of the black three-banked
galleys that sail to it with rubies from no clearly named shore.
The traders that come from those galleys to deal with the jewellers
are human, or nearly so, but the rowers are never beheld; and
it is not thought wholesome in Ulthar that merchants should trade
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
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 Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: dollars. One hundred and thirty millions!" He stands there
in his ill-fitting coat, and his star, and rubs one bony
hand over the other.
"Dear me!" says a lady tourist from Idaho, rather
inadequately. And yet, not so inadequately. What
exclamation is there, please, that fits a sum like one
hundred and thirty millions of anything?
Fanny Brandeis, fresh from Winnebago, Wisconsin, slipped
into the great scheme of things at the Haynes-Cooper plant
like part of a perfectly planned blue print. It was as
though she had been thought out and shaped for this
Fanny Herself |
