| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: too, seemed to prevail among them; for there was much stealthy
going in and out, and a constant questioning of those who were
newly arrived. They had previously been quite reckless in their
behaviour; often making a great uproar; quarrelling among
themselves, fighting, dancing, and singing. They were now very
subdued and silent, conversing almost in whispers, and stealing in
and out with a soft and stealthy tread, very different from the
boisterous trampling in which their arrivals and departures had
hitherto been announced to the trembling captives.
Whether this change was occasioned by the presence among them of
some person of authority in their ranks, or by any other cause,
Barnaby Rudge |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: Here we have another of these international obscurities. To Fritze
the step seemed natural and obvious; for Anglo-Saxons it was a hand
laid upon the altar; and the month was scarce out before the voice
of Senator Frye announced to his colleagues that free speech had
been suppressed in Samoa.
Perhaps we must seek some similar explanation for Fritze's short-
lived code, published and withdrawn the next day, the 23rd. Fritze
himself was in no humour for extremities. He was much in the
position of a lieutenant who should perceive his captain urging the
ship upon the rocks. It is plain he had lost all confidence in his
commanding officer "upon the legal side"; and we find him writing
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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 Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: poems.
There was also a little morocco-bound book of manuscript notes.
This I begged permission to carry away with me, hoping to find in it
something which would throw light upon my picture, perhaps even some
message to be carried, some hint or suggestion of something which
the writer would fain have had done for him, and which I promised
myself faithfully to perform, as a test of an imagined friendship--
imagined not in the future, but in the impossible past.
I read the book in this spirit, searching its pages carefully,
through the long afternoon, in the solitary cabin of my boat. There
was nothing at first but an ordinary diary; a record of the work 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 The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: accomplished it, and then set out to find medical assistance.
There, however, chance favored him. The first doctor's sign led
him to a young man, new to the town, and obviously at leisure. Not
that he found that out at once. He invented a condition for
himself, as he had done once before, got a prescription and paid
for it, learned what he wanted, and then mentioned Dick. He was
careful to emphasize his name and profession, and his standing
"back home."
"I'll admit he's got me worried," he finished. "He saw me registered
and came to my room this morning to see me, and got sick there. That
is, he said he had a violent headache and was dizzy. I got him to
The Breaking Point |
