| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: works of the "divine Phidias," I stepped with awe, as if entering a
temple, and the Secretary, who was by my side, observing it, told me
that the Grand Duke Constantine, when he came a few days before,
made, as he entered, a most profound and reverential bow. This was
one of my most delightful mornings, and I left the Antiquities with
a stronger desire to see them again than before I had seen them at
all.
Sunday, June 27th
. . . I went on Wednesday to dine at Lord Monteagle's to meet Father
Mathew, and the Archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Whately) also dined there.
Father Mathew spoke with great interest of America and of American
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: times he opened the book of photographs of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893,
fifty times he looked at the picture of the Court of Honor.
He was startled to find Zilla in the room. She wore a black streaky gown
which she had tried to brighten with a girdle of crimson ribbon. The ribbon
had been torn and patiently mended. He noted this carefully, because he did
not wish to look at her shoulders. One shoulder was lower than the other; one
arm she carried in contorted fashion, as though it were paralyzed; and behind
a high collar of cheap lace there was a gouge in the anemic neck which had
once been shining and softly plump.
"Yes?" she said.
"Well, well, old Zilla! By golly, it's good to see you again!"
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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 Poems by T. S. Eliot: You will find so much to learn."
My smile falls heavily among the bric-à-brac.
"Perhaps you can write to me."
My self-possession flares up for a second;
This is as I had reckoned.
"I have been wondering frequently of late
(But our beginnings never know our ends!)
Why we have not developed into friends."
I feel like one who smiles, and turning shall remark
Suddenly, his expression in a glass.
My self-possession gutters; we are really in the dark.
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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 Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: two calves, and some twenty sheep. There were twenty-two
members belonging to the homestead: four married sons, six
grandchildren (one of whom, Petrushka, was married), two
great-grandchildren, three orphans, and four daughters-in-law
with their babies. It was one of the few homesteads that
remained still undivided, but even here the dull internal work
of disintegration which would inevitably lead to separation had
already begun, starting as usual among the women. Two sons
were living in Moscow as water-carriers, and one was in the
army. At home now were the old man and his wife, their second
son who managed the homestead, the eldest who had come from
Master and Man |
