| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: no further opportunities for discipline. Knowing him as she did,
she should have trained the baby in the first place to go to
sleep alone, should have denied herself those added sweet
moments. After this she would be on her guard, forestall Martin,
do tenderly what he would do harshly. Never again should her boy
be made to suffer through any such mistaken selfishness of hers.
And though, after a while, the importance of this episode shrank
to its true proportions, she never forgot or broke this promise.
It would have been literally impossible for her to touch Billy,
even when he was naughtiest and most exasperating, with other
than infinite love, but she had an even firmness of her own. As
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: royalty, on a land claim of Weber's, fled across the Mulivai, and
"had the coolness" (German expression) to hoist his flag in Apia.
He was asked "in the most polite manner," says the same account -
"in the most delicate manner in the world," a reader of Marryat
might be tempted to amend the phrase, - to strike his flag in his
own capital; and on his "refusal to accede to this request," Dr.
Stuebel appeared himself with ten men and an officer from the
cruiser ALBATROSS; a sailor climbed into the tree and brought down
the flag of Samoa, which was carefully folded, and sent, "in the
most polite manner," to its owner. The consuls of England and the
States were there (the excellent gentlemen!) to protest. Last, and
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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 Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: meteors, M. Figuier puts ethereal souls. The ether-folk are daily
raining into the solar orb in untold millions, and to the
unceasing concussion is due the radiation which maintains life in
the planets, and thus the circle is complete.
In spite of their exalted position, the ether-folk do not disdain
to mingle with the affairs of terrestrial mortals. They give us
counsel in dreams, and it is from this source, we presume, that
our author has derived his rigid notions as to scientific method.
In evidence of this dream-theory we have the usual array of
cases, "a celebrated journalist, M. R----," "M. L----, a lawyer,"
etc., etc., as in most books of this kind.
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
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 Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: 'What should I do, seeing thee so indeed,
That tremble at the imagination? 668
The thought of it doth make my faint heart bleed,
And fear doth teach it divination:
I prophesy thy death, my living sorrow,
If thou encounter with the boar to-morrow. 672
'But if thou needs wilt hunt, be rul'd by me;
Uncouple at the timorous flying hare,
Or at the fox which lives by subtilty,
Or at the roe which no encounter dare: 676
Pursue these fearful creatures o'er the downs,
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