| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: and mottos, which I supplied.
The officers of the companies composing the Philadelphia regiment,
being met, chose me for their colonel; but, conceiving myself unfit,
I declin'd that station, and recommended Mr. Lawrence, a fine
person, and man of influence, who was accordingly appointed.
I then propos'd a lottery to defray the expense of building
a battery below the town, and furnishing it with cannon.
It filled expeditiously, and the battery was soon erected, the merlons
being fram'd of logs and fill'd with earth. We bought some old
cannon from Boston, but, these not being sufficient, we wrote to
England for more, soliciting, at the same time, our proprietaries
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: enough mouth at any time, but when it curved in
disappointment--ell, janitors are but human, after all.
"Tell you what, though," said Charlie. "I'll let you up on
the roof. It ain't long on grassy spots up there, but say, breeze!
Like a summer resort. On a clear day you can see way over 's far
's Eight' Avenoo. Only for the love of Mike don't blab it to the
other women folks in the buildin', or I'll have the whole works of
'em usin' the roof for a general sun, massage, an' beauty parlor.
Come on."
"I'll never breathe it to a soul," promised Mary Louise,
solemnly. "Oh, wait a minute."
Buttered Side Down |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: in the course of time we discovered he did not even
know that ships had names--'like Christian peo-
ple'; and when, one day, from the top of the Tal-
fourd Hill, he beheld the sea lying open to his view,
his eyes roamed afar, lost in an air of wild surprise,
as though he had never seen such a sight before.
And probably he had not. As far as I could make
out, he had been hustled together with many others
on board an emigrant-ship lying at the mouth of
the Elbe, too bewildered to take note of his sur-
roundings, too weary to see anything, too anxious
Amy Foster |
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 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: too, that if it was possible to dispose of ourselves and effects
any other way, though not profitably, we would never more set foot
on board that unhappy vessel. Indeed, I must acknowledge, that of
all the circumstances of life that ever I had any experience of,
nothing makes mankind so completely miserable as that of being in
constant fear. Well does the Scripture say, "The fear of man
brings a snare"; it is a life of death, and the mind is so entirely
oppressed by it, that it is capable of no relief.
Nor did it fail of its usual operations upon the fancy, by
heightening every danger; representing the English and Dutch
captains to be men incapable of hearing reason, or of
Robinson Crusoe |
