| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: sermon."
She turned at the threshold and shook her head rather sadly as
she saw the imprint of the day's cares on the young pastor's
face.
"Yo' mus' be pow'ful tired," she said.
"No, no; not at all. Good night, Mandy!"
She closed the door behind her, and Douglas was alone. He gazed
absently at the pages of his unfinished sermon as he tapped his
idle pen on the desk. "The show has got to go on," he repeated,
and far up the hillside with the slow- moving wagons, Jim and
Toby looked with unseeing eyes into the dim, star-lit distance,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: plough and cart, and overthrow all, and trample into the dirt; and
as for the filth, dung, straw, etc. necessarily left by the fair-
keepers, the quantity of which is very great, it is the farmers'
fees, and makes them full amends for the trampling, riding, and
carting upon, and hardening the ground.
It is impossible to describe all the parts and circumstances of
this fair exactly; the shops are placed in rows like streets,
whereof one is called Cheapside; and here, as in several other
streets, are all sorts of trades, who sell by retail, and who come
principally from London with their goods; scarce any trades are
omitted - goldsmiths, toyshops, brasiers, turners, milliners,
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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 Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: with great wonder. And the horses shook themselves, and the dogs
jumped up and barked; the pigeons took their heads from under their
wings, and looked about and flew into the fields; the flies on the
walls buzzed again; the fire in the kitchen blazed up; round went the
jack, and round went the spit, with the goose for the king's dinner
upon it; the butler finished his draught of ale; the maid went on
plucking the fowl; and the cook gave the boy the box on his ear.
And then the prince and Briar Rose were married, and the wedding feast
was given; and they lived happily together all their lives long.
THE DOG AND THE SPARROW
A shepherd's dog had a master who took no care of him, but often let
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
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 God The Invisible King by H. G. Wells: restore Arius to communion. The imperial aim was a common faith to
unite the empire. The crushing out of the Arians and of the
Paulicians and suchlike heretics, and more particularly the
systematic destruction by the orthodox of all heretical writings,
had about it none of that quality of honest conviction which comes
to those who have a real knowledge of God; it was a bawling down of
dissensions that, left to work themselves out, would have spoilt
good business; it was the fist of Nicolas of Myra over again, except
that after the days of Ambrose the sword of the executioner and the
fires of the book-burner were added to the weapon of the human
voice. Priscillian was the first human sacrifice formally offered
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