| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: have deceived me! This young man is not my child. He
had not his voice. Let us think no more of it; if we do I
shall end by finding him everywhere."
Less than ten minutes afterwards a Tartar officer ap-
peared in the posting-house. "Marfa Strogoff?" he asked.
"It is I," replied the old woman, in a tone so calm, and
with a face so tranquil, that those who had witnessed the
meeting with her son would not have known her.
"Come," said the officer,
Marfa Strogoff, with firm step, followed the Tartar.
Some moments afterwards she found herself in the chief
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: little strength again failed me, and I laid down. The blood was
still oozing from the wound in my head; and, for a time, I
suffered more than I can describe. There I was, in the deep
woods, sick and emaciated, pursued by a wretch whose character
for revolting cruelty beggars all opprobrious speech--bleeding,
and almost bloodless. I was not without the fear of bleeding to
death. The thought of dying in the woods, all alone, and of
being torn to pieces by the buzzards, had not yet been rendered
tolerable by my many troubles and hardships, and I was glad when
the shade of the trees, and the cool evening breeze, combined
with my matted hair to stop the flow of blood. After lying there
My Bondage and My Freedom |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: he lives with his father-in-law. The Vervelles and the Grassous, who
agree delightfully, keep a carriage, and are the happiest people on
earth. Pierre Grassou never emerges from the bourgeois circle, in
which he is considered one of the greatest artists of the period. Not
a family portrait is painted between the barrier du Trone and the rue
du Temple that is not done by this great painter; none of them costs
less than five hundred francs. The great reason which the bourgeois
families have for employing him is this:--
"Say what you will of him, he lays by twenty thousand francs a year
with his notary."
As Grassou took a creditable part on the occasion of the riots of May
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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 Camille by Alexandre Dumas: that utters them, were heard from time to time, amidst the
applause of Nanine, of Prudence, and of Marguerite. Gaston was
thoroughly amused; he was a very good sort of fellow, but
somewhat spoiled by the habits of his youth. For a moment I tried
to forget myself, to force my heart and my thoughts to become
indifferent to the sight before me, and to take my share of that
gaiety which seemed like one of the courses of the meal. But
little by little I withdrew from the noise; my glass remained
full, and I felt almost sad as I saw this beautiful creature of
twenty drinking, talking like a porter, and laughing the more
loudly the more scandalous was the joke.
Camille |
