| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: whole thing has occurred in less than a second. Under the
surprise and pain of the bite, Milda either jumps ahead to the
imminent peril of harness and lead-bar, or smashes into the wall,
stops short with the lead-bar over her back, and emits a couple of
hysterical kicks. The Outlaw invariably selects this moment to
remove paint. And after things are untangled and you have had
time to appreciate the close shave, you go up to Prince and
reprove him with your choicest vocabulary. And Prince, gazelle-
eyed and tender, offers to shake hands with you for sugar. I
leave it to any one: a boat would never act that way.
We have some history north of the Bay. Nearly three centuries and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: among themselves with them the new-comers, each to tell his sad and
strange story. How after Captain Hawkins, constrained by famine,
had put them ashore, they wandered in misery till the Spaniards
took them; how, instead of hanging them (as they at first
intended), the Dons fed and clothed them, and allotted them as
servants to various gentlemen about Mexico, where they throve,
turned their hands (like true sailors) to all manner of trades, and
made much money, and some of them were married, even to women of
wealth; so that all went well, until the fatal year 1574, when,
"much against the minds of many of the Spaniards themselves, that
cruel and bloody Inquisition was established for the first time in
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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 Richard III by William Shakespeare: Therefore-to speak, and to avoid the first,
And then, in speaking, not to incur the last-
Definitively thus I answer you:
Your love deserves my thanks, but my desert
Unmeritable shuns your high request.
First, if all obstacles were cut away,
And that my path were even to the crown,
As the ripe revenue and due of birth,
Yet so much is my poverty of spirit,
So mighty and so many my defects,
That I would rather hide me from my greatness-
Richard III |
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 Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: at these suggestions, but still kept her dignity and her
equilibrium. Then a mild voice suggested that it was customary in
all audiences for those presented to courtesy to the one on the
throne. "Courtesy!" broke in an indignant voice, "it would be
more appropriate for her to prostrate herself at our feet and beg
us to forgive her for trying to shoot us, than for us to courtesy
to her." It was finally decided, however, that the same
formalities be observed as were followed by the ministers when
received at court. I give these incidents to show the temper that
prevailed among the members of some of the legations at Peking at
the time of this first audience.
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