| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: jimhickey,' an' th' colonel, he ses: 'Ahem! ahem!
he is, indeed, a very good man t' have, ahem! He
kep' th' flag 'way t' th' front. I saw 'im. He's a
good un,' ses th' colonel. 'You bet,' ses th' lieu-
tenant, 'he an' a feller named Wilson was at th'
head 'a th' charge, an' howlin' like Indians all th'
time,' he ses. 'Head 'a th' charge all th' time,'
he ses. 'A feller named Wilson,' he ses. There,
Wilson, m'boy, put that in a letter an' send it
hum t' yer mother, hay? 'A feller named Wil-
son,' he ses. An' th' colonel, he ses: 'Were they,
The Red Badge of Courage |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: guttering candle, or a bit of a stumble shatter them like so
much glass, their old hearts keep sound and unaffrighted, and
they go on, bubbling with laughter, through years of man's age
compared to which the valley at Balaklava was as safe and
peaceful as a village cricket-green on Sunday. It may fairly
be questioned (if we look to the peril only) whether it was a
much more daring feat for Curtius to plunge into the gulf,
than for any old gentleman of ninety to doff his clothes and
clamber into bed.
Indeed, it is a memorable subject for consideration, with
what unconcern and gaiety mankind pricks on along the Valley
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: declare war with the State after my fashion, though I will
still make what use and get what advantage of her I can, as
is usual in such cases." He was put in prison; but that was
a part of his design. "Under a government which imprisons
any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.
I know this well, that if one thousand, if one hundred, if
ten men whom I could name - ay, if ONE HONEST man, in this
State of Massachusetts, CEASING TO HOLD SLAVES, were actually
to withdraw from this copartnership, and be locked up in the
county gaol therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in
America. For it matters not how small the beginning may seem
|
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 Chance by Joseph Conrad: Mr. Powell walked away from the mate and when at some distance said,
"Damn!" quite heartily. It was a confounded nuisance. It had
ceased to be funny; that hostile word "jailer" had given the
situation an air of reality.
Franklin's grotesque mortal envelope had disappeared from the poop
to seek its needful repose, if only the worried soul would let it
rest a while. Mr. Powell, half sorry for the thick little man,
wondered whether it would let him. For himself, he recognized that
the charm of a quiet watch on deck when one may let one's thoughts
roam in space and time had been spoiled without remedy. What
shocked him most was the implied aspersion of complicity on Mrs.
Chance |
