| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: period when it seemed to him every hour brought new horrors; with
each one, his determination strengthened to free himself as soon
as possible from this life that was one round of toil and
brutality.
Rose gave him all the sympathy and help her great heart knew. His
rebellion had been her own, but she had allowed it to be ground
out of her, with her soul now in complete surrender. And here was
her boy going through it all over again, for himself, learning
the dull religion of toil from one of its most fanatical priests.
What if Bill, too, should finally have acquiescence to Martin
rubbed into his very marrow, should absorb his father's point of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: by the difference between my garden and the profusion of splendour
all around, paused with his barrow on the path in front of me,
and remarked that nobody could expect to get blood out of a stone.
The apparent irrelevance of this statement made me weep still louder,
the bitter tears of insulted sorrow; but he stuck to his point,
and harangued me from the path, explaining the connection <96>
between north walls and tulips and blood and stones till my tears all
dried up again and I listened attentively, for the conclusion to be
drawn from his remarks was plainly that I had been shamefully taken
in by the head gardener, who was an unprincipled person thenceforward
to be for ever mistrusted and shunned. Standing on the path from
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: York, interpreted by his practical nature, carried away his last
scruples on the score of morality. For such beings, there are but two
ways of existence. Either they believe, or they do not believe; they
have the virtues of honest men, or they give themselves up to the
demands of necessity; in which case they proceed to turn their
slightest interests and each passing impulse of their passions into
necessities.
Such a system of life carries a man a long way. It was only in
appearance that Colonel Philippe retained the frankness, plain-
dealing, and easy-going freedom of a soldier. This made him, in
reality, very dangerous; he seemed as guileless as a child, but,
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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 Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Someone has pushed the earth in! Don't you see it?
"It isn't pushed in far enough to hurt anything," said
Trot, examining the footprints.
"Everything hurts that isn't right," insisted the man.
"If the earth were pushed in a mile, it would be a great
calamity, wouldn't it?"
"I s'pose so," admitted the little girl.
"Well, here it is pushed in a full inch! That's a
twelfth of a foot, or a little more than a millionth part
of a mile. Therefore it is one-millionth part of a
calamity -- Oh, dear! How dreadful!" said Pessim in a
The Scarecrow of Oz |
