| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: ought to read this tract, which contains real information; and yet
Mr. Bishop's views would have been changed by an acquaintance with
other groups. Samoa is, for the moment, the main and the most
instructive exception to the rule. The people are the most chaste
and one of the most temperate of island peoples. They have never
been tried and depressed with any grave pestilence. Their clothing
has scarce been tampered with; at the simple and becoming tabard of
the girls, Tartuffe, in many another island, would have cried out;
for the cool, healthy, and modest lava-lava or kilt, Tartuffe has
managed in many another island to substitute stifling and
inconvenient trousers. Lastly, and perhaps chiefly, so far from
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: "Why, she must be tremendously old--at least a hundred," I had said;
but on coming to consider dates I saw that it was not strictly
necessary that she should have exceeded by very much the common span.
Nonetheless she was very far advanced in life, and her relations with
Jeffrey Aspern had occurred in her early womanhood. "That is her excuse,"
said Mrs. Prest, half-sententiously and yet also somewhat as if she
were ashamed of making a speech so little in the real tone of Venice.
As if a woman needed an excuse for having loved the divine poet!
He had been not only one of the most brilliant minds of his day
(and in those years, when the century was young, there were,
as everyone knows, many), but one of the most genial men and one
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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 Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: well. I ain't no use for 'em. I've got all the hens
of my own I want to bother with."
"All right," said David. He looked blissful.
The farmer stared past him into the house. He
spied the solitary umbrella. He grew facetious.
"Guess the umbrellas was all mended up where
you come from if you've got down to one," said he.
David nodded. It was tragically true, that guess.
"Well, our umbrella got turned last week," said
the farmer. "I'll give you a job to start on. You
can stay here as long as you want if you're careful
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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 The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: the Giantess. "Do not seek to frighten me from my
purpose, and do not allow yourselves to be frightened,
for it is best to meet bravely what cannot be avoided.
I am now going to bed, and in the morning I will give
you all new forms, such as will be more interesting to
me than the ones you now wear. Good night, and pleasant dreams."
Saying this, Mrs. Yoop rose from her chair and walked
through a doorway into another room. So heavy was the
tread of the Giantess that even the walls of the big
stone castle trembled as she stepped. She closed the
door of her bedroom behind her, and then suddenly the
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
