| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: bishop brightly, "to reconcile men to their duty."
"By chanting the Athanasian creed at 'em, I suppose," said the
big employer, betraying the sneer he had been hiding hitherto.
"This thing is a fight," said the big employer, carrying on
before the bishop could reply. "Religion had better get out of
the streets until this thing is over. The men won't listen to
reason. They don't mean to. They're bit by Syndicalism. They're
setting out, I tell you, to be unreasonable and impossible. It
isn't an argument; it's a fight. They don't want to make friends
with the employer. They want to make an end to the employer.
Whatever we give them they'll take and press us for more.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: paws--gently, so as not to break them--and the
Woozy. which had been asleep, woke up to ask
what the row was about.
"I seldom sing in public, for fear they might
want me to start an opera company," remarked
the Shaggy Man, who was pleased to know his
effort was appreciated. "Voice, just now is a
little out of training; rusty, perhaps."
"Tell me," said the Patchwork Girl earnestly,
"do all those queer people you mention really
live in the Land of Oz?"
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: maintenance, no supporters or mantle. In these days the great crowd of
strangers flocking to Paris, and the almost universal ignorance of the
science of heraldry, are beginning to bring the title of prince into
fashion. There are no real princes but those possessed of
principalities, to whom belongs the title of highness. The disdain
shown by the French nobility for the title of prince, and the reasons
which caused Louis XIV. to give supremacy to the title of duke, have
prevented Frenchmen from claiming the appellation of "highness" for
the few princes who exist in France, those of Napoleon excepted. This
is why the princes of Cadignan hold an inferior position, nominally,
to the princes of the continent.
|
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 Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: "Three thousand gross!" exclaimed Cesar.
"And I have bought a piece of land in the Faubourg Saint-Marceau,--not
dear,--where I am building a manufactory."
"Wife," whispered Cesar to Constance, "with a little help we might
have pulled through."
*****
After that fatal day Cesar, his wife, and daughter understood each
other. The poor clerk resolved to attain an end which, if not
impossible, was at least gigantic in its enterprise,--namely, the
payment of his debts to their last penny. These three beings,--father,
mother, daughter,--bound together by the tie of a passionate
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
