| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: also year after year.] Also as between the trierarchs, four hundred of
whom are appointed each year, of these, too, any who choose must have
their cases adjudicated on, year after year. But that is not all.
There are various magistrates to examine and approve[8] and decide
between; there are orphans[9] whose status must be examined; and
guardians of prisoners to appoint. These, be it borne in mind, are all
matters of yearly occurrence; while at intervals there are exemptions
and abstentions from military service[10] which call for adjudication,
or in connection with some other extraordinary misdemeanour, some case
of outrage and violence of an exceptional character, or some charge of
impiety. A whole string of others I simply omit; I am content to have
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: laid down those beds of coal which you see burnt now in every
fire.
But how did the coral-reefs rise till they became cliffs at
Bristol and mountains in Yorkshire?
The earthquake steam, I suppose, raised them. One earthquake
indeed, or series of earthquakes, there was, running along between
Lancashire and Yorkshire, which made that vast crack and upheaval
in the rocks, the Craven Fault, running, I believe, for more than
a hundred miles, and lifting the rocks in some places several
hundred feet. That earthquake helped to make the high hills which
overhang Manchester and Preston, and all the manufacturing county
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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 Cromwell by William Shakespeare: I faith, I'll gibber a joint, but I'll tell him his own. Stay,
who comes here? O stand up; here he comes; stand up.
[Enter Hodge very fine with a Tipstaff; Cromwell, the
Mace carried before him; Norfolk, and Suffolk, and
attendants.]
HODGE.
Come, away with these beggars here; rise up, sirra.
Come, out the good people: run afore there, ho!
[Friskiball riseth, and stands a far off.]
SEELY.
Aye, we are kicked away, now we come for our own;
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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 Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: or put a clothes-pin on your nose. Do something, anyhow!"
But the fat one, with a sad look, sang this answer:
Music hath charms, and it may
Soothe even the savage, they say;
So if savage you feel
Just list to my reel,
For sooth to say that's the real way.
The shaggy man had to laugh at this, and when he laughed he stretched
his donkey mouth wide open. Said Dorothy:
"I don't know how good his poetry is, but it seems to fit the notes,
so that's all that can be 'xpected."
The Road to Oz |
