| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: too, a tragic and familiar Shade, resembling in this gesture another one,
tragic also, and bedecked with powerless charms, stretching bare brown
arms over the glitter of the infernal stream, the stream of darkness.
She said suddenly very low, `He died as he lived.'
"`His end,' said I, with dull anger stirring in me, `was in every
way worthy of his life.'
"`And I was not with him,' she murmured. My anger subsided
before a feeling of infinite pity.
"`Everything that could be done--' I mumbled.
"`Ah, but I believed in him more than any one on earth--more than
his own mother, more than--himself. He needed me! Me! I would
Heart of Darkness |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: messenger of His vengeance, and a loud call to that nation or country
or city to humiliation and repentance, according to that of the prophet
Jeremiah (xviii. 7, 8): 'At what instant I shall speak concerning a
nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and
to destroy it; if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from
their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.' Now
to prompt due impressions of the awe of God on the minds of men on
such occasions, and not to lessen them, it is that I have left those
minutes upon record.
I say, therefore, I reflect upon no man for putting the reason of those
things upon the immediate hand of God, and the appointment and
A Journal of the Plague Year |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: charming creatures--and we are no fool--get rich without trouble. We
want to go and see if the great capital of pleasures hasn't some young
Chevalier de Valois in store for us, with a carriage, diamonds, an
opera-box, and so forth. Russians, Austrians, Britons, have millions
on which we have an eye. Besides, we are patriotic; we want to help
France in getting back her money from the pockets of those gentry.
Hey! hey! my dear little devil's duck! it isn't a bad plan. The world
you live in may cry out a bit, but success justifies all things. The
worst thing in this world, my dear, is to be without money; that's our
disease, yours and mine. Now inasmuch as we have plenty of wit, we
thought it would be a good thing to parade our dear little honor, or
|
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 Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: some of her own bright color, a measure of her own buoyancy. In
the sixth week she saw, in her mirror, something that caused her
to lean forward, to stare for one intent moment, then to shrink
back, wide-eyed. A little sunburst, hair-fine but undeniable,
was etched delicately about the corners of her eyes. Fifteen
minutes later, she had wired New York thus:
Home Friday. Do you still love me? EMMA.
When she left, little Emma McChesney was sleeping, by a curious
coincidence, as she had been when Emma arrived, so that she could
not have the satisfaction of a last pressure of the lips against
the rose-petal cheek. She had to content herself with listening
Emma McChesney & Co. |
