| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: "'Selling at 137 7-8, you see,' said Mr. Beverly. 'Deducting the tax,
there you are scaled down again.' He pencilled some swift calculations.
'There,' said he. And I nearly understood them. 'Now I'm not here to stop
your buying that sort of petticoat and canary-bird wafer,' continued Mr.
Beverly. 'It's the regular trustee move, and nobody could criticise you
if you made it. It's what I call thoughtless safety, and it brings you
about 3 1-2 per cent, as I have already shown you. Anybody can do it.'"
These words of Mr. Beverly made me feel that I did not want to do what
anybody could do. 'There is another kind of safety which I call
thoughtful safety,' said he. 'Thoughtful, because it requires you to
investigate properties and their earnings, and generally to use your
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: refuse of Paris, which produces a fodder of strong quality, I don't
know how dairymen would get along. As it is, this over-stimulating
food and confinement in close stables produce inflammatory diseases,
of which the cows often die. They use cows in the neighborhood of
Paris as they do horses in the street. Crops more profitable than hay
--vegetables, fruit, apple orchards, vineyards--are taking the place
of meadow-lands. In a few years we shall see milk sent to Paris by the
mail-coaches as they now send fish. What is going on around Paris is
also going on round all the large cities of France; the land will thus
be used up before many years are gone. Chaptel states that in 1800
there were barely two million acres of vineyard in France; a careful
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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 Young Forester by Zane Grey: before I could find a foothold, the branch to which I was hanging snapped
like a pistol-shot, and I plunged down with a crash. I struck the bear and
the lower branch, and then the ground. The fall half stunned me. I thought
every bone in my body was broken. I rose unsteadily, and for a moment
everything whirled before my eyes. Then I discovered that the roar in my
ears was the old hunter's yell. I saw him hauling on the rope. There was a
great ripping of bark and many strange sounds, and then the cub was
dangling head downward. Hiram had pulled him from his perch, and hung him
over the lowest branch.
"Thar, youngster, git busy now!" yelled the hunter. "Grab the other rope--
thar it is--an' rope a front paw while I hold him. Lively now, he's mighty
The Young Forester |
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: squad of boys struggled as vainly as a gang of snow-
shovelers against a blizzard. The guide talked in terms of
tons of mail, instead of thousands. And smacked his lips
after it. The Ten Thousand were working at night now,
stopping for a hasty bite of supper at six, then back to
desk, or bin or shelf until nine, so that Oklahoma and
Minnesota might have its Christmas box in time.
Fanny Brandeis, working under the light of her green-shaded
desk lamp, wondered, a little bitterly, if Christmas would
ever mean anything to her but pressure, weariness, work.
She told herself that she would not think of that Christmas
Fanny Herself |
