| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain: was brief; on your side, glorious. This mighty
victory, having been achieved utterly without loss,
stands without example in history. So long as the
planets shall continue to move in their orbits, the
BATTLE OF THE SAND-BELT will not perish out of the
memories of men.
THE BOSS.
I read it well, and the applause I got was very grati-
fying to me. I then wound up with these remarks:
"The war with the English nation, as a nation, is at
an end. The nation has retired from the field and the
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: black cottage, with diamond panes in the windows,
a creeper on the end wall, a roof of shingle, and
some roses climbing on the rickety trellis-work of
the tiny porch. Kennedy pulled up to a walk. A
woman, in full sunlight, was throwing a dripping
blanket over a line stretched between two old ap-
ple-trees. And as the bobtailed, long-necked chest-
nut, trying to get his head, jerked the left hand,
covered by a thick dogskin glove, the doctor raised
his voice over the hedge: "How's your child,
Amy?"
Amy Foster |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: "I did not go to bed supperless," said the baron:
"I did not go to bed at all: and what are you doing with that
green dress and that bow and arrow?"
"I am going a-hunting," said Matilda.
"A-hunting!" said the baron. "What, I warrant you, to meet with the earl,
and slip your neck into the same noose?"
"No," said Matilda: "I am not going out of our own woods to-day."
"How do I know that?" said the baron. "What surety have I of that?"
"Here is the friar," said Matilda. "He will be surety."
"Not he," said the baron: "he will undertake nothing but where the devil
is a party concerned."
|
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 Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso: Of this your terrible and puissant knight,"
In scornful words this bitter scoff gave he.
"Good reason," quoth the king, "thou come behind,
Nor e'er compare thee with the Prince of Ind."
LXXIII
Lord Tisiphernes shook his head, and said,
"Oh, had my power free like my courage been,
Or had I liberty to use this blade,
Who slow, who weakest is, soon should be seen,
Nor thou, nor thy great vaunts make me afraid,
But cruel love I fear, and this fair queen."
|
