| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: what's more, when he shoots he don't miss. You all heerd the rifle-shot."
"Then it was old Bent or Leslie?" questioned Buell.
"Leslie it were. Bent uses a 45-90 caliber. Thet shot we heerd was from the
little 38--the kid's gun."
"Wal, it was a narrer escape fer Greaser," said Bud. "Leslie's sore, an'
he'll shoot fer keeps. Buell, you've started somethin'."
When Bill had washed the blood off the Mexican it was found that the ball
had carried away the lower part of the ear, and with it, of course, the
gold earring. The wound must have been extremely painful; it certainly took
all the starch out of Greaser. He kept mumbling in his own language, and
rolling his wicked black eyes and twisting his thin, yellow hands.
The Young Forester |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: spirits. I had not as yet said a word, and Monsieur de Chessel may
have attributed my silence to happiness.
"How do you mean?" I asked.
"He never, to my knowledge, received any one so well."
"I will admit that I am rather surprised myself," I said, conscious of
a certain bitterness underlying my companion's speech.
Though I was too inexpert in social matters to understand its cause, I
was much struck by the feeling Monsieur de Chessel betrayed. His real
name was Durand, but he had had the weakness to discard the name of a
worthy father, a merchant who had made a large fortune under the
Revolution. His wife was sole heiress of the Chessels, an old
The Lily of the Valley |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: perhaps the biggest adventure of all was that they were several
hours late for bed. This so inflated them that they did various
dodgy things to get staying up still longer, such as demanding
bandages; but Wendy, though glorying in having them all home
again safe and sound, was scandalised by the lateness of the
hour, and cried, "To bed, to bed," in a voice that had to be
obeyed. Next day, however, she was awfully tender, and gave out
bandages to every one, and they played till bed-time at limping
about and carrying their arms in slings.
Chapter 10
THE HAPPY HOME
Peter Pan |
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 Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri: allowed to exist under an abstract conception of liberty, save
that the responsible conductors are punished when the evil has
been done.--Similarly there ought to be some restriction upon the
right of admission to police-courts and assizes, where our women
hustle each other as the Roman women of the decline scrambled to
be present at the imperial circus-shows, and where our young men
and our hardened criminals receive lessons in the art of
committing crimes with greater smartness and precaution.
The instances which I have given, and which might be multiplied
into a preventive code as long as the penal code, prove to
demonstration how large a part is played by social factors in the
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