| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: particular in the way of expression.
"You may sit down, if you like," she said, in a
full, deliberate contralto. "Really, I would like to
have you do so. The light is too bad for reading.
I would prefer to talk."
The vassal of Luck slid upon the seat by her side
with complaisance.
"Do you know," be said, speaking the formula
with which park chairmen open their meetings, "that
you are quite the stunningest girl I have seen in a
long time? I had my eye on you yesterday.
The Voice of the City |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: [28] Cf. "Mem." III. xi. 13.
[29] Lit. "is more insatiate." Cf. Charles Wesley's hymn:
O Love Divine, how sweet Thou art!
When shall I find my willing heart
All taken up by Thee?
[30] Lit. "is she, the soul, more separate from Aphrodite."
[31] Or, "stamped with the image of Aphrodite." Zeune cf. Lucr. i. 24,
addressing Venus, "te sociam studeo scribendis versibus esse," "I
would have thee for a helpmate in writing the verses . . ."; and
below, 28, "quo magis aeternum da dictis, diva, leporem,"
"Wherefore all the more, O lady, lend my lays an ever-living
The Symposium |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from King James Bible: wherein thou hast dwelt.
PSA 74:3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that
the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
PSA 74:4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set
up their ensigns for signs.
PSA 74:5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the
thick trees.
PSA 74:6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with
axes and hammers.
PSA 74:7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by
casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
King James Bible |
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 A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: their anger to me and to my country." And then, apostrophising the
different provinces: "Tuamasanga, farewell! Manono and family,
farewell! So, also, Salafai, Tutuila, Aana, and Atua, farewell!
If we do not again see one another in this world, pray that we may
be again together above." So the sheep departed with the halo of a
saint, and men thought of him as of some King Arthur snatched into
Avilion.
On board the BISMARCK, the commodore shook hands with him, told him
he was to be "taken away from all the chiefs with whom he had been
accustomed," and had him taken to the wardroom under guard. The
next day he was sent to sea in the ADLER. There went with him his
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