| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: it has become cooled I will place it in a small
bottle; but meantime I must watch it carefully,
lest a gust of wind blow it away or scatter it.'
Unc Nunkie, Margolotte and the Magician
all stood looking at the marvelous Powder, but
Ojo was more interested just then in the Patchwork
Girl's brains. Thinking it both unfair and unkind
to deprive her of any good qualities that were
handy, the boy took down every bottle on the shelf
and poured some of the contents in Margolotte's
dish. No one saw him do this, for all were looking
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: and mysterious. To others, the communication I am about to make,
might place me in the light of a weak-minded, superstitious fool,
who suffered his own imagination to delude and bewilder him; but
you have known me in childhood and youth, and will not suspect me
of having adopted in manhood the feelings and frailties from
which my early years were free." Here he paused, and his friend
replied,--
"Do not doubt my perfect confidence in the truth of your
communication, however strange it may be," replied Lord
Woodville. "I know your firmness of disposition too well, to
suspect you could be made the object of imposition, and am aware
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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 Soul of Man by Oscar Wilde: arrested growth, or of disease, or of death.
Individualism will also be unselfish and unaffected. It has been
pointed out that one of the results of the extraordinary tyranny of
authority is that words are absolutely distorted from their proper
and simple meaning, and are used to express the obverse of their
right signification. What is true about Art is true about Life. A
man is called affected, nowadays, if he dresses as he likes to
dress. But in doing that he is acting in a perfectly natural
manner. Affectation, in such matters, consists in dressing
according to the views of one's neighbour, whose views, as they are
the views of the majority, will probably be extremely stupid. Or a
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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 Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: he demanded it; though it took nearly all the money we had. I
hope you will excuse me, ma'am, but I haven't liked him since the
trouble we had a year ago, when he accused my dear mother of
telling a lie."
"Perhaps he was hasty."
"I forgive him, ma'am; but I can't help thinking he is a very
wicked man," answered Katy, with considerable emphasis.
"I hope not so bad as that; for I am sure, if you had told him it
was not convenient for you to pay the rent, he would not have
insisted. But you want some assistance Katy?"
"Yes, ma'am; that is, I want to borrow some money," replied Katy,
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