| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: increased a hundredfold since he secured the Great Book of Records,
the Magic Picture, all of Glinda's recipes for sorcery, and my own
black bag, which was full of tools of wizardry. The man who could rob
us of those things and the man with all their powers at his command is
one who may prove somewhat difficult to conquer, therefore we should
plan our actions well before we venture too near to his castle."
"I didn't see Ozma in the Magic Picture," said Trot.
"What do you suppose Ugu has done with her?"
"Couldn't the Little Pink Bear tell us what he did with Ozma?" asked
Button-Bright.
"To be sure," replied the Lavender King. "I'll ask him." So he
The Lost Princess of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore by Charles Kingsley: He is) the Eternal and Unchangeable One, and if (as we all confess)
the universe bears the impress of His signet, we have no right, in
the present infantile state of science, to put arbitrary limits of
our own to the revelation which He may have thought good to make of
Himself in nature. Nay, rather, let us believe that, if our eyes
were opened, we should fulfil the requirement of Genius, to "see
the universal in the particular," by seeing God's whole likeness,
His whole glory, reflected as in a mirror even in the meanest
flower; and that nothing but the dulness of our own souls prevents
them from seeing day and night in all things, however small or
trivial to human eclecticism, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
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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 Enoch Arden, &c. by Alfred Tennyson: An' I hallus comed to 's choorch afoor moy Sally wur
dead,
An' 'eerd un a bummin' awaay loike a buzzard-clock*
ower my yead,
An' I niver knaw'd whot a mean'd but I thowt a 'ad
summut to saay,
An I thowt a said whot a owt to 'a said an' I comed
awaay.
*Cockchafer.
VI.
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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 An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: like Samson's, his arteries running buckets of red blood, to boast
of these infinitesimal exploits, produced a feeling of
disproportion in the world, as when a steam-hammer is set to
cracking nuts. The other was a quiet, subdued person, blond and
lymphatic and sad, with something the look of a Dane: 'TRISTES
TETES DE DANOIS!' as Gaston Lafenestre used to say.
I must not let that name go by without a word for the best of all
good fellows now gone down into the dust. We shall never again see
Gaston in his forest costume - he was Gaston with all the world, in
affection, not in disrespect - nor hear him wake the echoes of
Fontainebleau with the woodland horn. Never again shall his kind
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