| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: said nothing about any Prince Paz. The Comtesse Laginska is immensely
interested in the expeditions of the Emperor Nicholas; she is Russian
to the core, and reads with a sort of avidity all the news that comes
from that distant land. Once or twice every winter she says to the
Russian ambassador, with an air of indifference, "Do you know what has
become of our poor Comte Paz?"
Alas! most Parisian women, those beings who think themselves so clever
and clear-sighted, pass and repass beside a Paz and never recognize
him. Yes, many a Paz is unknown and misconceived, but--horrible to
think of!--some are misconceived even though they are loved. The
simplest women in society exact a certain amount of conventional sham
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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 Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: hair, soft-like, round her forehead, all in dainty curls, and just to one
side of her neck I put a bunch of most beautiful purple pansies. Those
pansies made a picture of her, madam! I shall never forget them. I
thought to-night, when I looked at my lady, "Now, if only the pansies was
there no one could tell the difference."
...Only the last year, madam. Only after she'd got a little--well--feeble
as you might say. Of course, she was never dangerous; she was the sweetest
old lady. But how it took her was--she thought she'd lost something. She
couldn't keep still, she couldn't settle. All day long she'd be up and
down, up and down; you'd meet her everywhere,--on the stairs, in the porch,
making for the kitchen. And she'd look up at you, and she'd say--just like
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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 A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: on them, to give them good words and works as meat and drink,
that they may learn to trust, believe and fear God, and to place
their hope on Him, to honor His Name, not to swear nor curse, to
mortify themselves by praying, fasting, watching, working, to
attend worship and to hear God's Word, and to keep the Sabbath,
that they may learn to despise temporal things, to bear
misfortune calmly, and not to fear death nor to love this life.
See, what great lessons are these, how many good works you have
before you in your home, with your child, that needs all these
things like a hungry, thirsty, naked, poor, imprisoned, sick
soul. O what a blessed marriage and home were that where such
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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 Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: letter; and by the mediation of a third than by
a man's self. Letters are good, when a man would
draw an answer by letter back again; or when it
may serve for a man's justification afterwards to
produce his own letter; or where it may be danger
to be interrupted, or heard by pieces. To deal in
person is good, when a man's face breedeth regard,
as commonly with inferiors; or in tender cases,
where a man's eye, upon the countenance of him
with whom he speaketh, may give him a direction
how far to go; and generally, where a man will
Essays of Francis Bacon |
