| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: pipe. Then a solemn silence fell upon the Road-
stead.
"He will soon be here," I murmured, and after
that we waited for him without a word. Meantime,
raising my eyes, I beheld the glitter of a lofty sky
above the Diana's mastheads. The multitude of
stars gathered into clusters, in rows, in lines, in
masses, in groups, shone all together, unanimously
--and the few isolated ones, blazing by themselves
in the midst of dark patches, seemed to be of a su-
perior kind and of an inextinguishable nature. But
Falk |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: there is no sparing. Howbeit I would have thee take
knowledge of the women, who they be that dishonour thee,
and who are guiltless. But of the men I would not that we
should make trial in the steadings, but that we should see
to this task afterwards, if indeed thou knowest some sign
from Zeus, lord of the aegis.'
Thus they spake one to the other. And now the well-builded
ship was being brought to land at Ithaca, the ship that
bare Telemachus from Pylos with all his company. When they
were now come within the deep harbour, the men drew up the
black ship on the shore, while squires, haughty of heart,
The Odyssey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: workingman was evidently shivering, and the detective handed him a
glass of tea with a good portion of rum in it.
"Here, drink this; you are cold. Are you ill?" Amster smiled sadly.
"No, I am not ill, but I was discharged to-day and am out of work
now - that's almost as bad."
"Are you married?"
"No, but I have an old mother to support."
"Leave your address with the commissioner. He may be able to find
work for you; we can always use good men here. But now drink your
tea." Amster drank the glass in one gulp. "Well, now we have lost
the trail in both directions," said Muller calmly. "But we will
|
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 Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith: Here, then, was McGaw's chance. His triumph at obtaining the
brewery contract was but short-lived. Schwartz had given him the
work, but at Tom's price, not at his own. McGaw had accepted it,
hoping for profits that would help him with his chattel mortgage.
After he had been at work for a month, however, he found that he
ran behind. He began to see that, in spite of its boastings, the
Union had really done nothing for him, except indirectly with its
threatened strike. The Union, on the other hand, insisted that it
had been McGaw's business to arrange his own terms with Schwartz.
What it had done was to kill Grogan as a competitor, and knock her
non-union men out of the job. This ended its duty.
|
