| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: of your prison, as you call it. The doors are locked,
just the same."
"I will smash them!" he declared, with confidence.
"Or for that matter, I HAVE smashed them--battered them
to pieces. You don't realize what progress I have made,
what changes there have been in me since that night,
you remember that wonderful night! I am quite another being,
I assure you! And really it dates from way beyond that--
why, from the very first evening, when I came to you in
the church. The window in Father Forbes' room was open,
and I stood by it listening to the music next door,
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: I'm standin in the hall, with all the swells around me, sparklin
with jewels, the board of health sends a man to lock us all in,
because the Jap thats been waiter has took the smallpox and gone
to the hospitle. I stood me ground. I sez, sez I, you cant shtop
an officer in pursute of his duty. I rafuse to be shut in. Be
shure to tell Mac that.
So here I am, and like to be for a month. Tell Mac theres four
votes shut up here, and I can get them for him, if he can stop
this monkey business.
Then go over to the Dago Church on Webster Avenue and put a
dollar in Saint Anthony's box. He'll see me out of this scrape,
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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 Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: light the condition of the glass when thus subjected to strong
electric influence. He failed to obtain any effect; still he was
persuaded an action existed, and required only suitable means to
call it forth.
After his return from Switzerland he was beset by these thoughts;
they were more inspired than logical: but he resorted to magnets and
proved his inspiration true. His dislike of 'doubtful knowledge'
and his efforts to liberate his mind from the thraldom of hypotheses
have been already referred to. Still this rebel against theory was
incessantly theorising himself. His principal researches are all
connected by an undercurrent of speculation. Theoretic ideas were
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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 Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: speed possibilities."
"If it can go forty we are safe enough," replied Barney;
"but we'll give it a chance to go as fast as it can--the
farther we are from the vicinity of Blentz the safer I shall
feel for the welfare of your highness."
A shot rang behind them, and a bullet whistled high
above their heads. The princess seized the carbine that
rested on the seat between them.
"Shall I?" she asked, turning its muzzle back over the low-
ered top.
"Better not," answered the man. "They are only trying
The Mad King |
