| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Poems by Bronte Sisters: acted in France during the last year of the Consulate.]
FRANCES.
She will not sleep, for fear of dreams,
But, rising, quits her restless bed,
And walks where some beclouded beams
Of moonlight through the hall are shed.
Obedient to the goad of grief,
Her steps, now fast, now lingering slow,
In varying motion seek relief
From the Eumenides of woe.
Wringing her hands, at intervals--
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: secret pickets and outposts, if only because in supplying a guard to
protect your friends you are contriving an ambuscade to catch the
enemy. Also the outposts will be less exposed to a secret attack,
being themselves unseen, and yet a source of great alarm to the enemy;
since the bare knowledge that there are outposts somewhere, though
where precisely no man knows, will prevent the enemy from feeling
confident, and oblige him to mistrust every tenable position. An
exposed outpost, on the contrary, presents to the broad eye of day its
dangers and also its weaknesses.[16] Besides which, the holder of a
concealed outpost can always place a few exposed vedettes beyond his
hidden pickets, and so endeavour to decoy the enemy into an ambuscade.
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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 Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: nod, and then shouted the intelligence into Miss
Swaffer's best ear. She showed no surprise, and
only remarked grimly, in a veiled blank voice, 'He
certainly won't get any other girl to marry him.'
"It is Miss Swaffer who has all the credit of the
munificence: but in a very few days it came out
that Mr. Swaffer had presented Yanko with a cot-
tage (the cottage you've seen this morning) and
something like an acre of ground--had made it
over to him in absolute property. Willcox expe-
dited the deed, and I remember him telling me he
Amy Foster |
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 Profits of Religion by Upton Sinclair: walked back to their cells with folded arms, and had their only
occupation working for a sweat-shop contractor; this on the
outskirts of the capital city of Wilmington, with no less than
ninety-one churches! The writer was informed that he would return
to this institution regularly every week unless he abandoned his
godless habit of playing tennis on a private club court on
Sunday; he only escaped the painful punishment by making the
discovery that at the Wilmington Country Club it was the custom
of the leading officials of the city and state to play golf every
Sunday, and by threatening to employ detectives and have these
mighty ones arrested and sent to their own prison. Which shows
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