| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: belong to our genuine faith. Both these parties are plainly
culpable, in that, while they neglect matters which are of weight
and necessary for salvation, they contend noisily about such as
are without weight and not necessary.
How much more rightly does the Apostle Paul teach us to walk in
the middle path, condemning either extreme and saying, "Let not
him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him
which eateth not judge him that eateth" (Rom. xiv. 3)! You see
here how the Apostle blames those who, not from religious
feeling, but in mere contempt, neglect and rail at ceremonial
observances, and teaches them not to despise, since this
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: "I am going to tell you," replied Barbicane quietly.
"Nothing is more easy than to reduce this mass to one quarter of
its bulk. You know that curious cellular matter which
constitutes the elementary tissues of vegetable? This substance
is found quite pure in many bodies, especially in cotton, which
is nothing more than the down of the seeds of the cotton plant.
Now cotton, combined with cold nitric acid, become transformed
into a substance eminently insoluble, combustible, and explosive.
It was first discovered in 1832, by Braconnot, a French chemist,
who called it xyloidine. In 1838 another Frenchman, Pelouze,
investigated its different properties, and finally, in 1846,
From the Earth to the Moon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: guided.
Good taste and poetic genius are, however, better than the best
of rules, and so, after all said and done, we can only conclude
that Mr. Longfellow has given us a great and noble work not
likely soon to be equalled. Leopardi somewhere, in speaking of
the early Italian translators of the classics and their
well-earned popularity, says, who knows but Caro will live in
men's remembrance as long as Virgil? "La belie destinee," adds
Sainte-Beuve, "de ne pouvoir plus mourir, sinon avec un
immortel!" Apart from Mr. Longfellow's other titles to undying
fame, such a destiny is surely marked out for him, and throughout
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
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 Love Songs by Sara Teasdale: Peace comes to them on quiet feet,
But not to me.
My peace is hidden in his breast
Where I shall never be;
Love comes to-night to all the rest,
But not to me.
Song at Capri
When beauty grows too great to bear
How shall I ease me of its ache,
For beauty more than bitterness
Makes the heart break.
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