| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: boy! I will wait till you come back. I would sooner take leave of life
than take leave of my dear, cozy Paris----"
"Will you not come to Italy, to Naples, and lead a pleasant life
there--a delicious, luxurious life, with this stout old fogy of yours,
who puffs and blows like a seal?"
"No."
"Ungrateful girl!"
"Ungrateful?" she cried, rising to her feet. "I might leave this house
this moment and take nothing out of it but myself. I shall have given
you all the treasures a young girl can give, and something that not
every drop in your veins and mine can ever give me back. If, by any
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: handsome center-table stood a large silver oil-can, richly engraved with
scenes from the past adventures of the Tin Woodman, Dorothy, the Cowardly
Lion and the Scarecrow: the lines of the engraving being traced upon the
silver in yellow gold. On the walls hung several portraits, that of the
Scarecrow seeming to be the most prominent and carefully executed, while a
the large painting of the famous Wizard of Oz, in act of presenting the Tin
Woodman with a heart, covered almost one entire end of the room.
While the visitors gazed at these things in silent admiration they suddenly
heard a loud voice in the next room exclaim:
"Well! well! well! What a great surprise!"
And then the door burst open and Nick Chopper rushed into their midst and
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells: the Time-Dimension, or even turn about and travel the other way?'
`Oh, THIS,' began Filby, `is all--'
`Why not?' said the Time Traveller.
`It's against reason,' said Filby.
`What reason?' said the Time Traveller.
`You can show black is white by argument,' said Filby, `but you
will never convince me.'
`Possibly not,' said the Time Traveller. `But now you begin to
see the object of my investigations into the geometry of Four
Dimensions. Long ago I had a vague inkling of a machine--'
`To travel through Time!' exclaimed the Very Young Man.
The Time Machine |
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 Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: do so it will be a magnificent sight. As for domesticity, it ages
one rapidly, and distracts one's mind from higher things."
"Ah! the higher things of life, how fine they are!" said the Duck;
"and that reminds me how hungry I feel": and she swam away down
the stream, saying, "Quack, quack, quack."
"Come back! come back!" screamed the Rocket, "I have a great deal
to say to you"; but the Duck paid no attention to him. "I am glad
that she has gone," he said to himself, "she has a decidedly
middle-class mind"; and he sank a little deeper still into the mud,
and began to think about the loneliness of genius, when suddenly
two little boys in white smocks came running down the bank, with a
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