| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: remembered the King her father was a priest; so he went into the
temple, and sacrificed a weasel and a hare.
Presently the news got about; and the two lads and the first King
were called into the presence of the King who was a priest, where
he sat upon the high seat.
"Little I reck of gear," said the King who was a priest, "and
little of power. For we live here among the shadow of things, and
the heart is sick of seeing them. And we stay here in the wind
like raiment drying, and the heart is weary of the wind. But one
thing I love, and that is truth; and for one thing will I give my
daughter, and that is the trial stone. For in the light of that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri: Crime is a product of these adverse conditions, and the only
effective way of grappling with it is to do away as far as
possible with the causes from which it springs. Although criminal
codes can do comparatively little towards the reduction of crime,
they are absolutely essential for the protection of society.
Accordingly, the last chapter, on Practical Reforms, is intended
to show how criminal law and prison administration may be made
more effective for purposes of social defence.
W. D. M.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
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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 Jolly Corner by Henry James: then, after dreaming it away, after profaning it with matters
strange to it, has waked up again to serenity of certitude and has
only to lie and watch it grow. This was the drift of his patience
- that he had only to let it shine on him. He must moreover, with
intermissions, still have been lifted and borne; since why and how
else should he have known himself, later on, with the afternoon
glow intenser, no longer at the foot of his stairs - situated as
these now seemed at that dark other end of his tunnel - but on a
deep window-bench of his high saloon, over which had been spread,
couch-fashion, a mantle of soft stuff lined with grey fur that was
familiar to his eyes and that one of his hands kept fondly feeling
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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 Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: composing for two francs a day, and don't you think that that is
enough? Why, if I did not read proofs of an evening for the Cointets,
I might feed myself on husks."
"You are turning ungrateful early," said Eve, deeply hurt, not so much
by Cerizet's grumbling as by his coarse tone, threatening attitude,
and aggressive stare; "you will get on in life."
"Not with a woman to order me about though, for it is not often that
the month has thirty days in it then."
Feeling wounded in her womanly dignity, Eve gave Cerizet a withering
look and went upstairs again. At dinner-time she spoke to David.
"Are you sure, dear, of that little rogue Cerizet?"
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