| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: depress his ears, for he does not then feel vicious. Guanacoes fight
savagely with their teeth; and they must do so frequently, for I found
the hides of several which I shot in Patagonia deeply scored. So do camels;
and both these animals, when savage, draw their ears closely backwards.
Guanacoes, as I have noticed, when not intending to bite, but merely to spit
their offensive saliva from a distance at an intruder, retract their ears.
Even the hippopotamus, when threatening with its widely-open enormous
mouth a comrade, draws back its small ears, just like a horse.
Now what a contrast is presented between the foregoing animals
and cattle, sheep, or goats, which never use their teeth in fighting,
and never draw back their ears when enraged! Although sheep and goats
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: greatly beloved as Santa Claus, because none other was so unselfish as
to devote himself to making others happy. For a generous deed lives
longer than a great battle or a king's decree of a scholar's essay,
because it spreads and leaves its mark on all nature and endures
through many generations.
The bargain made with the Knook Prince changed the plans of Claus for
all future time; for, being able to use the reindeer on but one night
of each year, he decided to devote all the other days to the
manufacture of playthings, and on Christmas Eve to carry them to the
children of the world.
But a year's work would, he knew, result in a vast accumulation of
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: up her eyes. (It must have altered the design a good deal when she was
sitting on the step with James. There must have been a shadow.) When
she thought of herself and Charles throwing ducks and drakes and of the
whole scene on the beach, it seemed to depend somehow upon Mrs Ramsay
sitting under the rock, with a pad on her knee, writing letters. (She
wrote innumerable letters, and sometimes the wind took them and she and
Charles just saved a page from the sea.) But what a power was in the
human soul! she thought. That woman sitting there writing under the
rock resolved everything into simplicity; made these angers,
irritations fall off like old rags; she brought together this and that
and then this, and so made out of that miserable silliness and spite
To the Lighthouse |
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 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: "Well--I am so glad you do. I thought you would,
he is so pleasant; and Mr. Palmer is excessively pleased
with you and your sisters I can tell you, and you can't
think how disappointed he will be if you don't come
to Cleveland.--I can't imagine why you should object
to it."
Elinor was again obliged to decline her invitation;
and by changing the subject, put a stop to her entreaties.
She thought it probable that as they lived in the
same county, Mrs. Palmer might be able to give some
more particular account of Willoughby's general
Sense and Sensibility |
