| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: death, which is fear. That is why he suspended life in himself
and me for two hundred and fifty thousand years, as his knowledge
gave him strength to do, because death was near and he thought
that sleep was better than death."
"Why should he dread to die," asked Bickley, "seeing that sleep
and death are the same?"
"Because his knowledge tells him that Sleep and Death are not
the same, as you, in your foolishness, believe, for there Bastin
is wiser than you. Because for all his wisdom he remains ignorant
of what happens to man when the Light of Life is blown out by the
breath of Fate. That is why he fears to die and why he talks with
When the World Shook |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: knife blade, or an old file, or even a piece of silver. The nail was driven
lightly into the stake, the contestants shot at it from a distance as great as
the eyesight permitted. To drive the nail hard and fast into the wood at one
hundred yards was a feat seldom accomplished. By many hunters it was deemed
more difficult than "snuffing the candle," another border pastime, which
consisted of placing in the dark at any distance a lighted candle, and then
putting out the flame with a single rifle ball. Many settlers, particularly
those who handled the plow more than the rifle, sighted from a rest, and
placed a piece of moss under the rife-barrel to prevent its spring at the
discharge.
The match began. Of the first six shooters Jonathan Zane and Alfred Clarke
Betty Zane |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: deplorable lie."
She opened her mouth under the shock of it, and I recited to her
unsparingly my deception; during this recital her mouth gradually closed.
"Well, I declare, declare, declare!" she slowly and deliciously breathed
over the sum total; and she considered me at length, silently, before her
words came again, like a soft soliloquy. "I could never have believed it
in one who"--here gayety flashed in her eyes suddenly--"parts his back
hair so rigidly. Oh, I beg your pardon for being personal!" And her
gayety broke in ripples. Some habitual instinct moved me to turn to the
looking-glass. "Useless!" she cried, "you can't see it in that. But it's
perfectly splendid to-day."
|
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 Options by O. Henry: In spite of which The Rose of Dixie kept coming out every month.
Although in every issue it ran photos of either the Taj Mahal or the
Luxembourg Gardens, or Carmencita or La Follette, a certain number of
people bought it and subscribed for it. As a boom for it, Editor-
Colonel Telfair ran three different views of Andrew Jackson's old
home, "The Hermitage," a full-page engraving of the second battle of
Manassas, entitled "Lee to the Rear!" and a five-thousand-word
biography of Belle Boyd in the same number. The subscription list
that month advanced 118. Also there were poems in the same issue by
Leonina Vashti Haricot (pen-name), related to the Haricots of
Charleston, South Carolina, and Bill Thompson, nephew of one of the
Options |
