| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: narrow Tauernthal, which divides the Glockner group from the
Venediger. How entirely different it was from the region of the
Dolomites! There the variety of colour was endless and the change
incessant; here it was all green grass and trees and black rocks,
with glimpses of snow. There the highest mountains were in sight
constantly; here they could only be seen from certain points in the
valley. There the streams played but a small part in the
landscape; here they were prominent, the main river raging and
foaming through the gorge below, while a score of waterfalls leaped
from the cliffs on either side and dashed down to join it.
The peasants, men, women and children, were cutting the grass in
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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 Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: and Rose had no end of trouble in getting breakfast for me.
"Mlle. goes to bed at dinner-time," she said to me, "and gets up when
the Duke is just returning home."
I began to write. About one o'clock my father knocked at the door of
the small drawing-room and asked if he might come in. I opened the
door; he came in, and found me writing to you.
"My dear," he began, "you will have to get yourself clothes, and to
make these rooms comfortable. In this purse you will find twelve
thousand francs, which is the yearly income I purpose allowing you for
your expenses. You will make arrangements with your mother as to some
governess whom you may like, in case Miss Griffith doesn't please you,
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