| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: sometimes, when she was off her guard, their expression told of secret
anguish. The oval of her face was somewhat long; but happiness and
health had perhaps filled and perfected the outlines. A forced smile,
full of quiet sadness, hovered continually on her pale lips; but when
the children, who were always with her, looked up at their mother, or
asked one of the incessant idle questions which convey so much to a
mother's ears, then the smile brightened, and expressed the joys of a
mother's love. Her gait was slow and dignified. Her dress never
varied; evidently she had made up her mind to think no more of her
toilette, and to forget a world by which she meant no doubt to be
forgotten. She wore a long, black gown, confined at the waist by a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: an etching Rembrandt would have made of him!'
'Poor old chap!' said Hughie, 'how miserable he looks! But I
suppose, to you painters, his face is his fortune?'
'Certainly,' replied Trevor, 'you don't want a beggar to look
happy, do you?'
'How much does a model get for sitting?' asked Hughie, as he found
himself a comfortable seat on a divan.
'A shilling an hour.'
'And how much do you get for your picture, Alan?'
'Oh, for this I get two thousand!'
'Pounds?'
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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 Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: lumps of the lagoon. All circumstances were in our favour, the
light behind, the sun low, the wind still fresh and steady, and
the tide about the turn. A moment later we shot at racing speed
betwixt two pier heads of broken water; the lead began to be
cast, the captain to bawl down his anxious directions, the
schooner to tack and dodge among the scattered dangers of the
lagoon; and at one bell in the first dog watch, we had come to
our anchor off the north-east end of Middle Brooks Island, in
five fathoms water. The sails were gasketted and covered, the
boats emptied of the miscellaneous stores and odds and ends of
sea-furniture, that accumulate in the course of a voyage, the
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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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: to close proximity to two pretty rows of apple-trees that had been left on the
front lawn, a reminder of the farm that "used to be," and the sight of the
trees brought a troubled look into Tattine's face. "Patrick," she said
ruefully, "do you know that some of the nests in these trees have been robbed
of their eggs? Four or five of them are empty now. Have you an idea who could
do such a thing?"
"Yes, I have an idea," and Patrick rested his hands upon the handle of his
rake and looked significantly towards the barn; "somebody who lives in the
barn, I'm thinkin'."
"Why, Joseph would not do it, nor Philip the groom, and little Joey is too
small to climb these trees."
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