| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Treatise on Parents and Children by George Bernard Shaw: out of account, children can stand with indifference sights, sounds,
smells, and disorders that would make an adult of fifty utterly
miserable; whilst on the other hand such adults find a tranquil
happiness in conditions which to children mean unspeakable boredom.
And since our system is nevertheless to pack them all into the same
house and pretend that they are happy, and that this particular sort
of happiness is the foundation of virtue, it is found that in
discussing family life we never speak of actual adults or actual
children, or of realities of any sort, but always of ideals such as
The Home, a Mother's Influence, a Father's Care, Filial Piety, Duty,
Affection, Family Life, etc. etc., which are no doubt very comforting
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: complaints about my extravagance. I am too much hampered here.
What I need is change of scene.
Saturday
I escaped last Tuesday night, and travelled two days, and built
me another shelter, in a secluded place, and obliterated my tracks
as well as I could, but she hunted me out by means of a beast which
she has tamed and calls a wolf, and came making that pitiful noise
again, and shedding that water out of the places she looks with.
I was obliged to return with her, but will presently emigrate again,
when occasion offers. She engages herself in many foolish things:
among others, trying to study out why the animals called lions and
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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 A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: and self-assertive, while those with a thousand years of tradition would
have thicker hides and would never feel it necessary to assert
themselves. Give an Englishman as good as he gives you, and you are
certain to win his respect, and probably his regard. In this connection
see my anecdote about the Tommies and Yankees who physically fought it
out, and compare it with the Salisbury, the van Squibber, and the opium
trade anecdotes. "Treat 'em rough," when they treat you rough: they like
it. Only, be sure you do it in the right way.
Third. We differ because we are alike. That American who stood in the
theatre complaining about the sixpence he didn't have to pay at home is
exactly like Englishmen I have seen complaining about the unexpected
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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 Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: discovery of the man who left the train."
"You have found him?" She bent forward, and again I regretted my
hasty speech. "I knew it; I said so."
"We are going to find him," I asserted, with a confidence I did not
feel. "We can produce at any time proof that a man left the Flier
a few miles beyond the wreck. And we can find him, I am positive."
"But you have not found him yet?" She was clearly disappointed.
"Well, so be it. Now for our bargain. You will admit that I am no
fool."
I made no such admission, and she smiled mockingly.
"How flattering you are!" she said. "Very well. Now for the
The Man in Lower Ten |
