| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: them together, he trolled aloud in merry tones:
[2] Stand for selling.
"Now come, ye lasses, and eke ye dames,
And buy your meat from me;
For three pennyworths of meat I sell
For the charge of one penny.
"Lamb have I that hath fed upon nought
But the dainty dames pied,
And the violet sweet, and the daffodil
That grow fair streams beside.
"And beef have I from the heathery words,
 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: "Well, I can't go," murmured Wilbur, as he remembered the Assembly
that was to come off that night and his engaged dance with Jo
Herrick. He decided that it would be best to meet Jerry as he
came off the boat and tell him how matters stood. Then he
resolved, since no one that he knew was in the club, and the
instalment of the Paris weeklies had not arrived, that it would be
amusing to go down to the water-front and loaf among the shipping
until it was time for Jerry's boat.
Wilbur spent an hour along the wharves, watching the great grain
ships consigned to "Cork for orders" slowly gorging themselves
with whole harvests of wheat from the San Joaquin Valley; lumber
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: the reverend gentleman great amusement: but seeing me so near, he
thought, I suppose, he might as well be taking his departure; and,
as I stooped to caress the dog, with ostentatious pity to show my
disapproval of his severity, I heard him say: 'When shall I see
you again, Miss Murray?'
'At church, I suppose,' replied she, 'unless your business chances
to bring you here again at the precise moment when I happen to be
walking by.'
'I could always manage to have business here, if I knew precisely
when and where to find you.'
'But if I would, I could not inform you, for I am so immethodical,
 Agnes Grey |
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 Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: independence of action in the past, any attempt at change or readaptation
on her part has had to overcome greater resistance, and it is the noise and
friction of resistance, more than the amount of actual change which has
taken place, which attracts attention; as when an Alpine stream, after a
long winter frost, breaks the ice, and with a crash and roar sweeps away
the obstructions which have gathered in its bed, all men's attention is
attracted to it, though when later a much larger body of water silently
forces its way down, no man observes it. (An interesting practical
illustration of this fact is found in the vast attention and uproar created
when the first three women in England, some thirty odd years ago, sought to
enter the medical profession. At the present day scores of women prepare
|