| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: now, drinking the wines, shattering the crystal and glass, slashing
the portraits.
One of them stands before her and tells her to leave the
house. She slaps his face. How the stigma stands out red as blood
upon his blanched cheek!
Now there is a roar of fire and the flames are bearing down
upon her motionless figure. She wants to show them how a daughter
of Louisiana can perish before her conquerors. But little Pauline
clings to her knees in an agony of terror. Little Pauline must be
saved.
"Il ne faut pas faire mal a Pauline." Again she is saying it
Awakening & Selected Short Stories |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: this art the Rabbi Bar-Cocheba, in the
reign of the Emperor Hadrian, made the
credulous Jews believe that he was the
hoped-for Messiah; and two centuries
after, the Emperor Constantius was
thrown into great terror when Valentinian
informed him that he had seen one
of the body-guards breathing out fire and
flames in the evening.
Since Beckmann wrote, the method of
producing smoke and sparks from the mouth has
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: "I don't know, Sally."
"You don't know, and I don't. It is very strange."
"I suppose," said Edward Patterson, helpless be-
fore the feminine problem, "that -- Eudora got it in
some way."
"In some way," repeated Sally. "That is always
a man's way out of a mystery when there is a mys-
tery. There is a mystery. There is a mystery which
worries me. I have not told you all yet, Edward."
"What more is there, dear?"
"I -- asked Content whose dress this was, and
|
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 Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: of the Imperial edict, should set forth and submit their opinions
and judgments in the German and the Latin language, and since on
the ensuing Wednesday, answer was given to Your Imperial Majesty,
after due deliberation, that we would submit the Articles of our
Confession for our side on next Wednesday, therefore, in
obedience to Your Imperial Majesty's wishes, we offer, in this
matter of religion, the Confession of our preachers and of
ourselves, showing what manner of doctrine from the Holy
Scriptures and the pure Word of God has been up to this time set
forth in our lands, dukedoms, dominions, and cities, and taught
in our churches.
|
