| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rivers to the Sea by Sara Teasdale: The car shoots upward,
And the air, swirling and angry,
Howls like a hundred devils.
Past the maze of trim bronze doors,
Steadily we ascend.
I cling to you
Conscious of the chasm under us,
And a terrible whirring deafens my ears.
The flight is ended.
We pass thru a door leading onto the ledge--
RIVERS TO THE SEA
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso: This sword, I trust, shall well safe-conduct me:
But while you rest and all your forces spare,
That I go forth to war at least agree;
Though not your champion, yet a private knight,
I will some Christian prove in single fight."
XIV
The king replied, "Though thy force and might
Should be reserved to better time and use;
Yet that thou challenge some renowned knight,
Among the Christians bold I not refuse."
The warrior breathing out desire of fight,
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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 Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: door locked and not opening it till all was safely stowed in his
pockets), he had really nothing to fear from the various despairs
which found their way from all sides to this rendezvous of misery.
Certainly, there are many different ways of being honest and virtuous;
and the "Monograph of Virtue" has no other basis than this social
axiom.[*] A man is false to his conscience; he fails, apparently, in
delicacy; he forfeits that bloom of honor which, though lost, does
not, as yet, mean general disrepute; at last, however, he fails
decidedly in honor; if he falls into the hands of the correctional
police, he is not, as yet, guilty of crime before the court of
assizes; but after he is branded with infamy by the verdict of a jury
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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 Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: thinking there must be room for more than one on so broad a
statement, took courage to murmur: "Oh, certainly; we have a
standard."
"The object of our little club," Mrs. Ballinger continued, "is to
concentrate the highest tendencies of Hillbridge--to centralise
and focus its complex intellectual effort."
This was felt to be so happy that the ladies drew an almost
audible breath of relief.
"We aspire," the President went on, "to stand for what is highest
in art, literature and ethics."
Osric Dane again turned to her. "What ethics?" she asked.
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