| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: emigrating. They were like those of so many others, vague and
unfounded; times were bad at home; they were said to have a turn for
the better in the States; a man could get on anywhere, he thought.
That was precisely the weak point of his position; for if he could
get on in America, why could he not do the same in Scotland? But I
never had the courage to use that argument, though it was often on
the tip of my tongue, and instead I agreed with him heartily adding,
with reckless originality, 'If the man stuck to his work, and kept
away from drink.'
'Ah!' said he slowly, 'the drink! You see, that's just my trouble.'
He spoke with a simplicity that was touching, looking at me at the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: "That is not definite enough."
"Well, in a garden."
"You were trespassing, you mean?"
"Why, yes, sir. There wasn't anybody that seemed to want to invite
me to dinner or to give me a place to sleep. I just had to look
out for myself."
"You evidently know how to look out for yourself at the cost of
others, a heavy cost." The commissioner's easy tone had changed to
sternness. Knoll felt this, and a sharp gleam shot out from his
dull little eyes, while the tone of his voice was gruff and
impertinent again as he asked: "What do you mean by that?"
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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 Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: Philosophy itself as developed by Kant, and Fichte, and Schelling, and
Hegel, we must at least confess it to be a popular delusion, if nothing
better, vast enough and common enough to be worth a little patient
investigation, wheresoever we may find it stirring the human mind.
But I have hope, still, that I may find sympathy and comprehension among
some, at least, of my audience, as I proceed to examine the ancient
realist schools of Alexandria, on account of their knowledge of the
modern realist schools of Germany. For I cannot but see, that a
revulsion is taking place in the thoughts of our nation upon metaphysic
subjects, and that Scotland, as usual, is taking the lead therein. That
most illustrious Scotchman, Mr. Thomas Carlyle, first vindicated the
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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 Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: shaped like a camel's hump. The skin, more pleasing to the eye
than any satin, is milk-white in some, in others lemon-yellow.
There are fine ladies among them who adorn their legs with a number
of pink bracelets and their back with carmine arabesques. A narrow
pale-green ribbon sometimes edges the right and left of the breast.
It is not so rich as the costume of the Banded Epeira, but much
more elegant because of its soberness, its daintiness and the
artful blending of its hues. Novice fingers, which shrink from
touching any other Spider, allow themselves to be enticed by these
attractions; they do not fear to handle the beauteous Thomisus, so
gentle in appearance.
The Life of the Spider |
