| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The School For Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan: at his Fingers' ends!--
ROWLEY. Or, rather at his Tongue's end Sir Oliver; for I believe
there is no sentiment he has more faith in than that 'Charity begins
at Home.'
SIR OLIVER. And his I presume is of that domestic sort which never
stirs abroad at all.
ROWLEY. I doubt you'll find it so--but He's coming--I mustn't seem
to interrupt you--and you know immediately--as you leave him--I come
in to announce--your arrival in your real Character.
SIR OLIVER. True--and afterwards you'll meet me at Sir Peter's----
ROWLEY. Without losing a moment.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: and begin to shovel in the blinding clouds of dust. And so at the
end of the week he was a fertilizer man for life--he was able to
eat again, and though his head never stopped aching, it ceased to
be so bad that he could not work.
So there passed another summer. It was a summer of prosperity,
all over the country, and the country ate generously of packing
house products, and there was plenty of work for all the family,
in spite of the packers' efforts to keep a superfluity of labor.
They were again able to pay their debts and to begin to save a
little sum; but there were one or two sacrifices they considered
too heavy to be made for long--it was too bad that the boys should
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: have invented another. And this other,--what is it? It is this.
The young girls are seated, and the gentlemen walk up and down
before them, as in a bazaar, and make their choice. The maidens
wait and think, but do not dare to say: 'Take me, young man, me
and not her. Look at these shoulders and the rest.' We males
walk up and down, and estimate the merchandise, and then we
discourse upon the rights of woman, upon the liberty that she
acquires, I know not how, in the theatrical halls."
"But what is to be done?" said I to him. "Shall the woman make
the advances?"
"I do not know. But, if it is a question of equality, let the
The Kreutzer Sonata |
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 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: "But if we only wait a few minutes, there will be
no danger of our seeing them at all."
"I shall not pay them any such compliment, I assure you.
I have no notion of treating men with such respect.
That is the way to spoil them."
Catherine had nothing to oppose against such reasoning;
and therefore, to show the independence of Miss Thorpe,
and her resolution of humbling the sex, they set off
immediately as fast as they could walk, in pursuit of the
two young men.
CHAPTER 7
Northanger Abbey |
