| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: as Johnny had never seen them. She looked eagerly
at Johnny.
"Why did you do that?" she said, but there was
no anger in her voice.
"I forgot," began Johnny.
"Forgot what?" Her voice was strained with
eagerness.
"That you were not another boy," said Johnny.
"Tell me," said Aunt Janet. "No, you need not
tell me, because if you did it might be my duty to
inform your parents. I know there is no need of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from God The Invisible King by H. G. Wells: him. He cannot continue it at all if he leaves his position, and so
he must needs waste something of his gift to save the rest. But
should a poorer or a humbler post offer him better opportunity,
there lies his work for God. There one has a very common and simple
type of the problems that will arise in the lives of men when they
are lit by sudden realisation of the immediacy of God.
Akin to that case is the perplexity of any successful physician
between the increase of knowledge and the public welfare on the one
hand, and the lucrative possibilities of his practice among wealthy
people on the other. He belongs to a profession that is crippled by
a mediaeval code, a profession which was blind to the common
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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 Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: good stories and practical jokes,--a spirit which, alas! is yielding,
day by day, to that other spirit which Lord Byron has characterized as
"English cant."
For his sins, after getting down at the Soleil d'Or, an inn kept by a
former grenadier of the imperial guard named Mitouflet, married to a
rich widow, the illustrious traveller, after a brief consultation with
the landlord, betook himself to the knave of Vouvray, the jovial
merry-maker, the comic man of the neighborhood, compelled by fame and
nature to supply the town with merriment. This country Figaro was once
a dyer, and now possessed about seven or eight thousand francs a year,
a pretty house on the slope of the hill, a plump little wife, and
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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 King James Bible: holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities.
NEH 11:2 And the people blessed all the men, that willingly offered
themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.
NEH 11:3 Now these are the chief of the province that dwelt in
Jerusalem: but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession
in their cities, to wit, Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the
Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants.
NEH 11:4 And at Jerusalem dwelt certain of the children of Judah, and
of the children of Benjamin. Of the children of Judah; Athaiah the son
of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of
Shephatiah, the son of Mahalaleel, of the children of Perez;
King James Bible |
