| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: they all wore long black coats and white neck-
ties. I was used to seeing father in a blue coat,
a sort of jacket, and when I recognized him
on the platform, I was very proud. Do you
remember that Swedish song he taught you,
about the ship boy?"
"Yes. I used to sing it to the Mexicans.
They like anything different." Emil paused.
"Father had a hard fight here, didn't he?" he
added thoughtfully.
O Pioneers! |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: having ten paddles all in readiness. Do not fear,' he cried,
'we shall soon get it.' And so it was, even as he had said.
Coming to the lake, they saw the canoe with ten paddles,
and immediately they embarked. Scarcely had they reached the center
of the lake, when they saw the bear arrive at its borders.
Lifting himself on his hind legs, he looked all around.
Then he waded into the water; then losing his footing he turned back,
and commenced making the circuit of the lake. Meantime the party
remained stationary in the center to watch his movements.
He traveled all around, till at last he came to the place from
whence he started. Then he commenced drinking up the water,
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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 Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: there"--and her gesture was in the same direction--"rather apt to
be crowded down by the weeds?"
"Not if there was a good strong man about--a man who wanted to
cultivate the soil and give the rose a pretty place in which to
bloom."
"Why, Martin," Rose laughed lightly, "the way you're fixed out
there with that shack, the only thing that ever blooms is a fine
crop of rag-weeds."
At this gratuitous thrust a flood of crimson surged up Martin's
magnificent, column-like throat and broke in hot waves over his
cheeks. "Well, it's not going to be that way for long," he
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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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: the miserable truth, and now it has only too much closed round me.
Of course I've lost you: I've interfered, and you've seen--
under HER dictation"--with which I faced, over the pool again,
our infernal witness--"the easy and perfect way to meet it.
I've done my best, but I've lost you. Goodbye." For Mrs. Grose
I had an imperative, an almost frantic "Go, go!" before which,
in infinite distress, but mutely possessed of the little girl
and clearly convinced, in spite of her blindness, that something
awful had occurred and some collapse engulfed us, she retreated,
by the way we had come, as fast as she could move.
Of what first happened when I was left alone I had no subsequent memory.
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