| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: either, but the verses mean that we mustn't blame animals for doing things
that it is their nature to do."
"And yet, Grandma, I am not allowed to do naughty things because it is my
nature to."
"Ah, but, Tattine, there lies the beautiful difference. You can be reasoned
with, and made to understand things, so that you can change your nature--I
mean the part of you that makes you sometimes love to do naughty things.
"There's another part of your nature that is dear and good …nd sweet, and
doesn't need to be changed at all. But Betsy and Doctor can only be trained in
a few ways, and never to really change their nature.
"Setters have hunted rabbits always, kittens have preyed upon birds, and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: antithesis is first suggested and then deftly evaded. Each
phrase, besides, is to be comely in itself; and between the
implication and the evolution of the sentence there should be
a satisfying equipoise of sound; for nothing more often
disappoints the ear than a sentence solemnly and sonorously
prepared, and hastily and weakly finished. Nor should the
balance be too striking and exact, for the one rule is to be
infinitely various; to interest, to disappoint, to surprise,
and yet still to gratify; to be ever changing, as it were,
the stitch, and yet still to give the effect of an ingenious
neatness.
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