| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: the workings of this casket."
"Pooh! It's not so difficult a feat," McIntyre shrugged his
shoulders disdainfully. "My daughters, as children, used to play
hide and seek inside the casket with each new governess."
Ferguson stepped forward briskly. "Mr. Kent, let me see if I can
lift you inside the casket; make yourself limp - that's it!" as
Kent, entering into the investigation heart and soul, relaxed
his muscles and fell back against the detective.
A moment later he was swung upward and pushed head-first inside the
casket and the door closed. The air, though close, was not
unpleasant and Kent, his eyes growing gradually accustomed to the
The Red Seal |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: [3] For an instance see "Hell." VI. ii. 27, Iphicrates' periplus.
[4] Or, "one set of boatswains." See Thuc. ii. 84. For the duties of
the Keleustes see "Dict. Gk. Rom. Ant." s.v. portisculus; and for
the type of captain see "Hell." V. i. 3, Teleutias.
Generals, too, will differ (he proceeded), the one sort from the
other, in this very quality. Here you have a leader who, incapable of
kindling a zest for toil and love of hairbreadth 'scapes, is apt to
engender in his followers that base spirit which neither deigns nor
chooses to obey, except under compulsion. They even pride and plume
themselves,[5] the cowards, on their opposition to their leader; this
same leader who, in the end, will make his men insensible to shame
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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 Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: running between New York and Newport, R. I. Forty-three years ago
colored travelers were not permitted in the cabin, nor allowed abaft
the paddle-wheels of a steam vessel. They were compelled,
whatever the weather might be,--whether cold or hot, wet or dry,--
to spend the night on deck. Unjust as this regulation was,
it did not trouble us much; we had fared much harder before.
We arrived at Newport the next morning, and soon after an
old fashioned stage-coach, with "New Bedford" in large yellow letters
on its sides, came down to the wharf. I had not money enough to pay our fare,
and stood hesitating what to do. Fortunately for us, there were two
Quaker gentlemen who were about to take passage on the stage,--
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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 The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: assumed attitude, and is worth all the unbridled tenderness of your
middle-class women with their mortgaged devotion; for, in love,
devotion is nearly akin to speculation.
"And, then, a woman of fashion, a Blamont-Chauvry, has her virtues
too! Her virtues are fortune, power, effect, a certain contempt of all
that is beneath her----"
"Thank you!" said Bianchon.
"Old curmudgeon!" said Rastignac, laughing. "Come--do not be so
common, do like your friend Desplein; be a Baron, a Knight of Saint-
Michael; become a peer of France, and marry your daughters to dukes."
"I! May the five hundred thousand devils----"
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