| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: this nonsense, don't tell him, and make Jo and Laurie hold their
tongues. I won't be deceived and plagued and made a fool of.
It's a shame!"
Seeing Meg's usually gentle temper was roused and her
pride hurt by this mischievous joke, Mrs. March soothed her
by promises of entire silence and great discretion for the
future. The instant Laurie's step was heard in the hall, Meg
fled into the study, and Mrs. March received the culprit alone.
Jo had not told him why he was wanted, fearing he wouldn't come,
but he knew the minute he saw Mrs. March's face, and stood
twirling his hat with a guilty air which convicted him at once.
Little Women |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: when he has long practiced his defiance and arrogance, he shall yet
remain a tramp and beggar, and, in addition, have all plagues and
misfortune. Now you are going your way [wherever your heart's pleasure
calls you] while you ought to preserve the property of your master and
mistress, for which service you fill your crop and maw, take your wages
like a thief, have people treat you as a nobleman; for there are many
that are even insolent towards their masters and mistresses, and are
unwilling to do them a favor or service by which to protect them from
loss.
But reflect what you will gain when, having come into your own
property and being set up in your home (to which God will help with all
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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 The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: cold, and will at last disregard it altogether. To avoid this, we must,
indeed, examine heart and conscience, and act like a person who desires
to be right with God. Now, the more this is done, the more will the
heart be warmed and enkindled, that it may not become entirely cold.
But if you say: How if I feel that I am not prepared? Answer: That is
also my scruple, especially from the old way under the Pope, in which a
person tortured himself to be so perfectly pure that God could not find
the least blemish in us. On this account we became so timid that every
one was instantly thrown into consternation and said to himself: Alas!
you are unworthy! For then nature and reason begin to reckon our
unworthiness in comparison with the great and precious good; and then
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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 Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: there will be no Salon, and without the Salon art may perish.
Ever since the catalogue has grown into a book, many names have
appeared in it which still remain in their native obscurity, in spite
of the ten or a dozen pictures attached to them. Among these names
perhaps the most unknown to fame is that of an artist named Pierre
Grassou, coming from Fougeres, and called simply "Fougeres" among his
brother-artists, who, at the present moment holds a place, as the
saying is, "in the sun," and who suggested the rather bitter
reflections by which this sketch of his life is introduced,--
reflections that are applicable to many other individuals of the tribe
of artists.
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