| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells: until the thousands one seemed motionless and the daily one was
no longer a mere mist upon its scale. Still slower, until the
dim outlines of a desolate beach grew visible.
`I stopped very gently and sat upon the Time Machine, looking
round. The sky was no longer blue. North-eastward it was inky
black, and out of the blackness shone brightly and steadily the
pale white stars. Overhead it was a deep Indian red and
starless, and south-eastward it grew brighter to a glowing
scarlet where, cut by the horizon, lay the huge hull of the sun,
red and motionless. The rocks about me were of a harsh reddish
colour, and all the trace of life that I could see at first was
The Time Machine |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: It would be best, thought the ape-man, quickly to get him
among the tribe of Kerchak where he would hear the Mangani
talking among themselves. Thus he would soon learn an
intelligible form of speech.
Tarzan rose to his feet upon the swaying branch where he
had halted far above the ground, and motioned to the child
to follow him; but Tibo only clung tightly to the bole
of the tree and wept. Being a boy, and a native African,
he had, of course, climbed into trees many times before this;
but the idea of racing off through the forest, leaping from
one branch to another, as his captor, to his horror,
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: families, she had old men come into the palace to read stories or
recite poetry for our entertainment. I not infrequently followed
the old men out, bought the books from which they read, and then
bribed some of the eunuchs to teach me to read them. In this way
I obtained a fair knowledge of the Chinese character."
She is as deeply interested in the new educational movement among
girls as is her sister. When this desire for Western education
began, she organized a school, in which she has eighty girls or
more, taken from various grades of society, whom she and some of
her friends, in addition to employing teachers and providing the
school-rooms, gave a good part of their time to teaching 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 Cavalry General by Xenophon: of the air tower over creatures that crawl and walk.[4] Their feet are
case-hardened by constant training, and, when it comes to tramping
over rough ground, must differ from the uninitiated as the sound man
from the lame. And so again, when it comes to charging and retiring,
the onward-dashing gallop, the well-skilled, timely retreat, expert
knowledge of the ground and scenery will assert superiority over
inexpertness like that of eyesight over blindness.
[4] See "Horse." viii. 6; cf. "Hunting," xii. 2; "Cyrop." I. vi. 28
foll.
Nor should it be forgotten, that in order to be in thorough efficiency
the horses must not only be well fed and in good condition, but at the
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