| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: through which the simple details of the picture addressed themselves
to the eye as distinctly as the items of a "sum" in addition.
A second young lady presently came out of the house, across the piazza,
descended into the garden and approached the young girl of whom I
have spoken. This second young lady was also thin and pale; but she
was older than the other; she was shorter; she had dark, smooth hair.
Her eyes, unlike the other's, were quick and bright; but they were not at
all restless. She wore a straw bonnet with white ribbons, and a long,
red, India scarf, which, on the front of her dress, reached to her feet.
In her hand she carried a little key.
"Gertrude," she said, "are you very sure you had better not go to church?"
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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 the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: comrade seized it, and said that I should lay that up for
lunch or dinner. Soon after he was let out to work at
haying in a neighboring field, whither he went every day,
and would not be back till noon; so he bade me good day,
saying that he doubted if he should see me again.
When I came out of prison--for some one interfered, and
paid that tax--I did not perceive that great changes had
taken place on the common, such as he observed who went in a
youth and emerged a gray-headed man; and yet a change had
come to my eyes come over the scene--the town, and State,
and country, greater than any that mere time could effect.
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: Soc. Well, on what then?
The Syr. Why, on the silly fools who come and see my puppet show.[85]
I live on them.
[85] "My marionettes." Cf. Herod. ii. 48; Lucian lxxii., "De Syr. d."
16; Aristot. "de Mund." 6.
Phil. Ah yes! and that explains how the other day I heard you praying
to the gods to grant you, wheresoe'er you chance to be, great store of
corn and wine, but dearth of wits.[86]
[86] Or, "of fruits abundance, but of wits a famine." Cf. Plat. "Rep."
546 A. His prayer resembles that of the thievish trader in Ovid,
"Fast." v. 675 foll., "Grant me to-day my daily . . . fraud!" but
The Symposium |
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 Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: whilst at the door were her seven children, the oldest not fourteen years.
One side of the house was given up to the work animals, some twelve head,
besides hogs. In the next room the family lived, the water coming within two
inches of the bed-rail. The stove was below water, and the cooking was done
on a fire on top of it. The house threatened to give way at any moment:
one end of it was sinking, and, in fact, the building looked a mere shell.
As the boat rounded to, Mr. Ellis came out in a dug-out, and General
York told him that he had come to his relief; that 'The Times-Democrat'
boat was at his service, and would remove his family at once to the hills,
and on Monday a flat would take out his stock, as, until that time,
they would be busy. Notwithstanding the deplorable situation himself
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