| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: It wears an altered face
And shields a stranger race.
The river, on from mill to mill,
Flows past our childhood's garden still;
But ah! we children never more
Shall watch it from the water-door!
Below the yew--it still is there--
Our phantom voices haunt the air
As we were still at play,
And I can hear them call and say:
"How far is it to Babylon?"
A Child's Garden of Verses |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: black bolt the mighty Sir Mortimer struck the other
horse full upon the shoulder, and man and steed rolled
in the dust of the roadway.
The knight arose, unhurt, and Norman of Torn dis-
mounted to give fair battle upon even terms. Though
handicapped by the weight of his armor the knight also
had the advantage of its protection, so that the two
fought furiously for several minutes without either gain-
ing an advantage.
The girl sat motionless and wide-eyed at the side of
the road watching every move of the two contestants.
The Outlaw of Torn |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: of mine.'
'Alas, you do not know to what you condemn me,' cried the
other. 'But I at least will have no hand in it.' With these
words he carried his hand to his pocket, hastily swallowed
the contents of a phial, and, with the very act, reeled back
and fell across his chair upon the floor. The prince left
his place and came and stood above him, where he lay
convulsed upon the carpet. 'Poor moth!' I heard his highness
murmur. 'Alas, poor moth! must we again inquire which is the
more fatal - weakness or wickedness? And can a sympathy with
ideas, surely not ignoble in themselves, conduct a man to
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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 Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: waiter or two adorned the shelves. These, with a few
daguerreotypes in a little square pile, had the closet to
themselves, and I was conscious of much pleasure in seeing them.
One is shown over many a house in these days where the interest may
be more complex, but not more definite.
"Those were her best things, poor dear," said Elijah as he
locked the door again. "She told me that last summer before she
was taken away that she couldn't think o' anything more she wanted,
there was everything in the house, an' all her rooms was furnished
pretty. I was goin' over to the Port, an' inquired for errands.
I used to ask her to say what she wanted, cost or no cost--she was
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