| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Adieu by Honore de Balzac: distance from it. General Eble had just set fire to the supports on
the other bank. In spite of the warnings shouted to those who were
rushing upon the bridge, not a soul went back. Not only did the bridge
go down crowded with human beings, but the impetuosity of that flood
of men toward the fatal bank was so furious that a mass of humanity
poured itself violently into the river like an avalanche. Not a cry
was heard; the only sound was like the dropping of monstrous stones
into the water. Then the Beresina was a mass of floating corpses.
The retrograde movement of those who now fell back into the plain to
escape the death before them was so violent, and their concussion
against those who were advancing from the rear so terrible, that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: longer be liable to be sucked back into their old disastrous habits,
you may do great things with them.
I can well imagine the incredulous laughter which will greet my proposal.
"What," it will be said, "do you think that you can create agricultural
pioneers out of the scum of Cockneydom?" Let us look for a moment at
the ingredients which make up what you call "the scum of Cockneydom."
After careful examination and close cross-questioning of the
Out-of-Works, whom we have already registered at our Labour Bureau,
we find that at least sixty per cent. are country folk, men, women,
boys, and girls, who have left their homes in the counties to come up
to town in the hope of bettering themselves. They are in no sense of
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: solve them. I have come with confidence to lay them before you, to ask
you to listen to me, to answer me, and to tell me by what studies I
can pursue the search for light. It is a cruelly afflicted soul that
appeals to you. Is not that a good ground for the seed of your word?"
The Abbe Gondrin eagerly protested the joy with which, notwithstanding
his own insufficiency, he would undertake to reply to the scruples of
conscience in the young savant. After asking him for a place in his
friendship, and telling him to come at certain hours for conversation,
he asked him to read, as a first step, the "Thoughts" of Pascal. A
natural affinity, on the side of science, would, he believed, be
established between the spirit of Pascal and that of the young
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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 Dracula by Bram Stoker: the moonlight crept round an angle of the building, and the light
fell on the window. There distinctly was Lucy with her head
lying up against the side of the window sill and her eyes shut.
She was fast asleep, and by her, seated on the window sill,
was something that looked like a good-sized bird.
I was afraid she might get a chill, so I ran upstairs, but as I
came into the room she was moving back to her bed, fast asleep,
and breathing heavily. She was holding her hand to her throat,
as though to protect if from the cold.
I did not wake her, but tucked her up warmly. I have taken care
that the door is locked and the window securely fastened.
Dracula |
