| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: to the jeddak, your father, to convince him of the falsity
of the charge, and to give my service to your recovery.
Before I left Helium some one tampered with my compass,
so that it bore me to Aaanthor instead of to Ptarth.
That is all. You believe me?"
"But the warriors who stole me from the garden!" she
exclaimed. "After we arrived at Aaanthor they wore the
metal of the Prince of Helium. When they took me they
were trapped in Dusarian harness. There seemed but a
single explanation. Whoever dared the outrage wished
to put the onus upon another, should he be detected in
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Door in the Wall, et. al. by H. G. Wells: doubt in my mind that they would be glad to see me . . . Yes, I
must have thought of the garden that morning just as a jolly sort
of place to which one might resort in the interludes of a strenuous
scholastic career.
"I didn't go that day at all. The next day was a half
holiday, and that may have weighed with me. Perhaps, too, my state
of inattention brought down impositions upon me and docked the
margin of time necessary for the detour. I don't know. What I do
know is that in the meantime the enchanted garden was so much upon
my mind that I could not keep it to myself.
"I told--What was his name?--a ferrety-looking youngster we
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: Godfrey (for I have called him by his right name ever since) died and left
me what in those old days six years ago was still a large amount. To-day
we understand what true riches mean. But in those bygone times six years
ago, a million dollars was a sum considerable enough to be still seen, as
it were, with the naked eye. That was my bequest from Uncle Godfrey, and
I felt myself to be the possessor of a fortune."
At this point in Richard's narrative, a sigh escaped from Ethel.
"I know," he immediately said, "that money is always welcome. But it is
certainly some consolation to reflect how slight a loss a million dollars
is counted to-day in New York. And I did not lose all of it."
"I met Ethel at the train on her return from Florida, and crossed with
|
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 Herland by Charlotte Gilman: "Then why not sign 'em?" said Terry triumphantly.
Moadine turned to him with her slightly quizzical smile.
"Because the finished product is not a private one. When they are
babies, we do speak of them, at times, as `Essa's Lato,' or `Novine's
Amel'; but that is merely descriptive and conversational. In the records,
of course, the child stands in her own line of mothers; but in dealing
with it personally it is Lato, or Amel, without dragging in its ancestors."
"But have you names enough to give a new one to each child?"
"Assuredly we have, for each living generation."
Then they asked about our methods, and found first that
"we" did so and so, and then that other nations did differently.
Herland |
