| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: neither case will the casual inspiration of the moment suffice.
Here, as elsewhere, practice must, precede perfection. But in
modern days while the fashion of writing poetry has become far too
common, and should, if possible, be discouraged, the fashion of
lying has almost fallen into disrepute. Many a young man starts in
life with a natural gift for exaggeration which, if nurtured in
congenial and sympathetic surroundings, or by the imitation of the
best models, might grow into something really great and wonderful.
But, as a rule, he comes to nothing. He either falls into careless
habits of accuracy - '
CYRIL. My dear fellow!
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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 Market-Place by Harold Frederic: seemed finished to his mind. He took up the paper,
glanced through it once more, and handed it in silence
to the other.
In silence also, and with an expression of arrested attention,
Lord Plowden read these lines:
"The undertaking referred to in the two documents of even date,
signed respectively by Lord Plowden and Stormont Thorpe,
is to the effect that at some hour between eleven A.M.
and three P.M. of September 12th, instant, Lord Plowden
shall produce before a special meeting of the Committee
of the Stock Exchange, the person of one Jerome P. Tavender,
The Market-Place |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: Wild is the difference between the old England of Madam How's
making, and the new England which she has taught man to make,
carrying on what she had only begun and had not time to finish.
That moor is a pattern bit left to show what the greater part of
this land was like for long ages after it had risen out of the
sea; when there was little or nothing on the flat upper moors save
heaths, and ling, and club-mosses, and soft gorse, and needle-
whin, and creeping willows; and furze and fern upon the brows; and
in the bottoms oak and ash, beech and alder, hazel and mountain
ash, holly and thorn, with here and there an aspen or a buckthorn
(berry-bearing alder as you call it), and everywhere--where he
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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 Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: at the other doorway.
Here were two boys, fast asleep with their arms around each other's
neck. Claus gazed at them lovingly a moment and then placed upon the
bed a drum, two horns and a wooden elephant.
He did not linger, now that his work in this house was done, but
climbed the chimney again and seated himself on his sledge.
"Can you find another chimney?" he asked the reindeer.
"Easily enough," replied Glossie and Flossie.
Down to the edge of the roof they raced, and then, without pausing,
leaped through the air to the top of the next building, where a huge,
old-fashioned chimney stood.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
