| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: celebrated Mademoiselle Beaumesnil of the Theatre Francais and
Peyrade, the commissary-general of police under the Empire, and the
uncle of our friend. Until his death, which occurred suddenly, leaving
his daughter, whom he loved tenderly, without means of support, I was
bound to that excellent man with the warmest friendship."
Glad to show that he had some knowledge of du Portail's interior life,
Cerizet hastened to remark:--
"And you have secretly fulfilled the duties of that friendship,
monsieur; for, in taking into your home that interesting orphan you
assumed a difficult guardianship. Mademoiselle de la Peyrade's state
of health requires, I am told, a care not only affectionate, but
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Long Odds by H. Rider Haggard: white thing about her was her wool, and she seemed to be pretty well
dead except for her eyes and her voice. She thought that I was a devil
come to take her, and that is why she yelled so. Well, I got her down
to the waggon, and gave her a 'tot' of Cape smoke, and then, as soon as
it was ready, poured about a pint of beef-tea down her throat, made from
the flesh of a blue vilderbeeste I had killed the day before, and after
that she brightened up wonderfully. She could talk Zulu--indeed, it
turned out that she had run away from Zululand in T'Chaka's time--and
she told me that all the people whom I had seen had died of fever. When
they had died the other inhabitants of the kraal had taken the cattle
and gone away, leaving the poor old woman, who was helpless from age and
Long Odds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: feeling particularly happy too, until she made it. She was sitting up in an
apple-tree, sketching, and doing it very well. She had taken only a few
drawing-lessons but had taken to them immensely, and now with one limb of the
tree for a seat and another one for an easel, she was working away at a pretty
chime tower, that stood on a neighbor's land.
Down on the grass beneath her Betsy and Doctor were lying. Betsy was a dear,
homely red-and-white Laverack setter, and Doctor, black-and-white and better
looking, was her son. Doctor's beautiful grandmother Tadjie was lying, alas!
under the grass instead of on it, not very far away. It was a sad day for the
dog world when Tadjie left it, for although she was very old, she was very
beautiful up to the last with a glossy silky coat, a superbly feathered tail,
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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 The Human Drift by Jack London: surface of the earth. Man, despite his marvellous
accomplishments, will never be able to increase the diameter of
the planet. The old days of virgin continents will be gone. The
habitable planet, from ice-cap to ice-cap, will be inhabited. And
in the matter of food-getting, as in everything else, man is only
finite. Undreamed-of efficiencies in food-getting may be
achieved, but, soon or late, man will find himself face to face
with Malthus' grim law. Not only will population catch up with
subsistence, but it will press against subsistence, and the
pressure will be pitiless and savage. Somewhere in the future is
a date when man will face, consciously, the bitter fact that there
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