| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: Worsley's translation.
{8} Since this essay was written, I have been sincerely delighted
to find that my wishes had been anticipated at Girton College,
near Cambridge, and previously at Hitchin, whence the college was
removed: and that the wise ladies who superintend that
establishment propose also that most excellent institution--a
swimming-bath. A paper, moreover, read before the London
Association of School-mistresses in 1866, on "Physical Exercises
and Recreation for Girls," deserves all attention. May those who
promote such things prosper as they deserve.
{9} Lecture delivered at Bristol, October 5, 1857.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: had acquired the metallic temper of a savage's limbs? Iron will yield
to a certain amount of hammering or persistent pressure; its
impenetrable molecules, purified and made homogeneous by man, may
become disintegrated, and without being in a state of fusion the metal
had lost its power of resistance. Blacksmiths, locksmiths, tool-makers
sometimes express this state by saying the iron is retting,
appropriating a word applied exclusively to hemp, which is reduced to
pulp and fibre by maceration. Well, the human soul, or, if you will,
the threefold powers of body, heart, and intellect, under certain
repeated shocks, get into such a condition as fibrous iron. They too
are disintegrated. Science and law and the public seek a thousand
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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 The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: insult my husband."
"Your husband!" the tin twins exclaimed in dismay.
"Yes," said she. "I married Chopfyt a long time ago,
because my other two sweethearts had deserted me."
This reproof embarrassed both Nick Chopper and
Captain Fyter. They looked down, shamefaced, for a
moment, and then the Tin Woodman explained in an
earnest voice:
"I rusted."
"So did I," said the Tin Soldier.
"I could not know that, of course," asserted Nimmie
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
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 Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: you."
Then he bound up the broken wing, and spoke so tenderly that Flutter
doubted him no longer, and was his friend again.
Day by day did Thistle watch beside him, making little beds of
cool, fresh moss for him to rest upon, fanning him when he slept,
and singing sweet songs to cheer him when awake. And often when
poor Flutter longed to be dancing once again over the blue waves,
the Fairy bore him in his arms to the lake, and on a broad leaf,
with a green flag for a sail, they floated on the still water; while
the dragon-fly's companions flew about them, playing merry games.
At length the broken wing was well, and Thistle said he must again
Flower Fables |
