| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe: Aunt Chloe gave him a sudden box on the ear. "Thar now! crowing
over the last breakfast yer poor daddy's gwine to have to home!"
"O, Chloe!" said Tom, gently.
"Wal, I can't help it," said Aunt Chloe, hiding her face
in her apron; "I 's so tossed about it, it makes me act ugly."
The boys stood quite still, looking first at their father and
then at their mother, while the baby, climbing up her clothes,
began an imperious, commanding cry.
"Thar!" said Aunt Chloe, wiping her eyes and taking up the baby;
"now I's done, I hope,--now do eat something. This yer's my
nicest chicken. Thar, boys, ye shall have some, poor critturs!
Uncle Tom's Cabin |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: inferred that they must be holy men who live according to these words.
Thus there would have been no need of inventing monasticism nor
spiritual orders, but every child would have abided by this
commandment, and could have directed his conscience to God and said:
"If I am to do good and holy works, I know of none better than to
render all honor and obedience to my parents, because God has Himself
commanded it. For what God commands must be much and far nobler than
everything that we may devise ourselves, and since there is no higher
or better teacher to be found than God, there can be no better
doctrine, indeed, than He gives forth. Now, He teaches fully what we
should do if we wish to perform truly good works, and by commanding
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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 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: and without too much qualification assented to at least a
part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in
love and war.
One evening while Fahrquhar and his wife were sitting on a
rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad
soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water.
Mrs. Fahrquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own
white hands. While she was fetching the water her husband
approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news
from the front.
"The Yanks are repairing the railroads," said the man, "and
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
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 Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: mother's blessing!
[She embraces her daughter protectingly, instinctively looking
upward for divine sanction.]
ACT III
[In the Rectory garden next morning, with the sun shining from a
cloudless sky. The garden wall has a five-barred wooden gate,
wide enough to admit a carriage, in the middle. Beside the gate
hangs a bell on a coiled spring, communicating with a pull
outside. The carriage drive comes down the middle of the garden
and then swerves to its left, where it ends in a little gravelled
circus opposite the Rectory porch. Beyond the gate is seen the
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