| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: homeward march until they could feel reasonably assured
that the ships would not return; for to be caught on the
open plains with a cavalcade of chariots and children was
far from the desire of even so warlike a people as the green
Martians.
During our period of inactivity, Tars Tarkas had instructed
me in many of the customs and arts of war familiar to the
Tharks, including lessons in riding and guiding the great
beasts which bore the warriors. These creatures, which are
known as thoats, are as dangerous and vicious as their masters,
but when once subdued are sufficiently tractable for the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: twa fingers o' Gib's, he would waken them up." And Gib, honest man!
would look down and secretly smile. Clem was a spy whom they had sent
out into the world of men. He had come back with the good news that
there was nobody to compare with the Four Black Brothers, no position
that they would not adorn, no official that it would not be well they
should replace, no interest of mankind, secular or spiritual, which
would not immediately bloom under their supervision. The excuse of
their folly is in two words: scarce the breadth of a hair divided them
from the peasantry. The measure of their sense is this: that these
symposia of rustic vanity were kept entirely within the family, like
some secret ancestral practice. To the world their serious faces were
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: Dem. Ile run from thee, and hide me in the brakes,
And leaue thee to the mercy of wilde beasts
Hel. The wildest hath not such a heart as you;
Runne when you will, the story shall be chang'd:
Apollo flies and Daphne holds the chase;
The Doue pursues the Griffin, the milde Hinde
Makes speed to catch the Tyger. Bootlesse speede,
When cowardise pursues, and valour flies
Demet. I will not stay thy questions, let me go;
Or if thou follow me, doe not beleeue,
But I shall doe thee mischiefe in the wood
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
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 Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: fashion within certain limits. All which appears for the present
quite impossible; but it is only so far even difficult as it is
difficult to conquer our vanity, frivolity, and desire to appear
what we are not. And it is not, nor ever shall be, creed of mine,
that these mean and shallow vices are unconquerable by Christian
women.
And then, thirdly, lodging people, which you may think should have
been put first, but I put it third, because we must feed and clothe
people where we find them, and lodge them afterwards. And providing
lodgment for them means a great deal of vigorous legislature, and
cutting down of vested interests that stand in the way, and after
|
