| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Captain Stormfield by Mark Twain: billions of red angels, with now and then a curiously complected
DISEASED one. You see, they think we whites and the occasional
nigger are Injuns that have been bleached out or blackened by some
leprous disease or other - for some peculiarly rascally SIN, mind
you. It is a mighty sour pill for us all, my friend - even the
modestest of us, let alone the other kind, that think they are
going to be received like a long-lost government bond, and hug
Abraham into the bargain. I haven't asked you any of the
particulars, Captain, but I judge it goes without saying - if my
experience is worth anything - that there wasn't much of a hooraw
made over you when you arrived - now was there?"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Helen of Troy And Other Poems by Sara Teasdale: And lo, his eyes were filled with tears.
II
(Written in a copy of "La Vita Nuova". For M. C. S.)
If you were Lady Beatrice
And I the Florentine,
I'd never waste my time like this --
If you were Lady Beatrice
I'd woo and then demand a kiss,
Nor weep like Dante here, I ween,
If you were Lady Beatrice
And I the Florentine.
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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 Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: wife, the like of which had yet to be created, it stood for a mine
worth a million at least.
That fall, when news came down of McCormack's discovery on
Bonanza, all the Lower Country, Circle City and Forty Mile
included, had stampeded up the Yukon,--at least all save those
who, like Jack Harrington and Louis Savoy, were away prospecting
in the west. Moose pastures and creeks were staked
indiscriminately and promiscuously; and incidentally, one of the
unlikeliest of creeks, Eldorado. Olaf Nelson laid claim to five
hundred of its linear feet, duly posted his notice, and as duly
disappeared. At that time the nearest recording office was in 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 My Antonia by Willa Cather: XI
WICK CUTTER WAS the money-lender who had fleeced poor Russian Peter.
When a farmer once got into the habit of going to Cutter, it was like
gambling or the lottery; in an hour of discouragement he went back.
Cutter's first name was Wycliffe, and he liked to talk about his pious
bringing-up. He contributed regularly to the Protestant churches,
`for sentiment's sake,' as he said with a flourish of the hand.
He came from a town in Iowa where there were a great many Swedes,
and could speak a little Swedish, which gave him a great advantage
with the early Scandinavian settlers.
In every frontier settlement there are men who have come
My Antonia |
