| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Enoch Arden, &c. by Alfred Tennyson: The vessel scarce sea-worthy; but evermore
His fancy fled before the lazy wind
Returning, till beneath a clouded moon
He like a lover down thro' all his blood
Drew in the dewy meadowy morning-breath
Of England, blown across her ghostly wall:
And that same morning officers and men
Levied a kindly tax upon themselves,
Pitying the lonely man, and gave him it:
Then moving up the coast they landed him,
Ev'n in that harbor whence he sail'd before.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Main Street by Sinclair Lewis: ready. She had been embarrassed by Kennicott's frankness,
but she agreed with him that in the insane condition of civilization,
which made the rearing of citizens more costly and perilous
than any other crime, it was inadvisable to have children till
he had made more money. She was sorry---- Perhaps he had
made all the mystery of love a mechanical cautiousness but----
She fled from the thought with a dubious, "Some day."
Her "reforms," her impulses toward beauty in raw Main
Street, they had become indistinct. But she would set them
going now. She would! She swore it with soft fist beating
the edges of the radiator. And at the end of all her vows
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: not. And if we wish to become a more temperate nation, we must
lessen them, if we cannot eradicate them.
First, overwork. We all live too fast, and work too hard. "All
things are full of labour, man cannot utter it." In the heavy
struggle for existence which goes on all around us, each man is
tasked more and more--if he be really worth buying and using--to
the utmost of his powers all day long. The weak have to compete
on equal terms with the strong; and crave, in consequence, for
artificial strength. How we shall stop that I know not, while
every man is "making haste to be rich, and piercing himself
through with many sorrows, and falling into foolish and hurtful
|
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 Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: whom the king had not even heard; so he questioned Masilo about them,
and of the number of their fighting-men, of their wealth in cattle, of
the name of the young man who ruled them, and especially as to the
tribute which they paid to the king.
Masilo answered, saying that the number of their fighting-men was
perhaps the half of a full regiment, that their cattle were many, for
they were rich, that they paid no tribute, and that the name of the
young man was Bulalio the Slaughterer--at the least, he was known by
that name, and he had heard no other.
Then the king grew wroth. "Arise, Masilo," he said, "and run to this
people, and speak in the ear of the people, and of him who is named
Nada the Lily |
