| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: blood and lived in the Munchkin Country of Oz. There I
was, by trade, a woodchopper, and contributed my share
to the comfort of the Oz people by chopping up the
trees of the forest to make firewood, with which the
women would cook their meals while the children warmed
themselves about the fires. For my home I had a little
hut by the edge of the forest, and my life was one of
much content until I fell in love with a beautiful
Munchkin girl who lived not far away."
"What was the Munchkin girl's name?" asked Woot.
"Nimmie Amee. This girl, so fair that the sunsets
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: And he narrated what had just passed concerning the passport.
"Well, Mr. Fix," replied the consul, "I shall not be sorry to
see the rascal's face; but perhaps he won't come here--that is,
if he is the person you suppose him to be. A robber doesn't quite
like to leave traces of his flight behind him; and, besides,
he is not obliged to have his passport countersigned."
"If he is as shrewd as I think he is, consul, he will come."
"To have his passport visaed?"
"Yes. Passports are only good for annoying honest folks,
and aiding in the flight of rogues. I assure you it will be quite
the thing for him to do; but I hope you will not visa the passport."
Around the World in 80 Days |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: waiting, and as she waited she was saying aloud, "What, Grandma Luty? Yes,
Grandma Luty. No, Grandma Luty. What did you say, Grandma Luty?" and this she
said in the most polite little tone imaginable. Meantime Rudolph and Mabel,
discovering that Tattine did not see them, came stealing along under cover of
the apple-trees.
"Whatever is Tattine doing, talking to herself like that?" whispered Mabel,
and then they came near enugh to hear what she was saying.
"She's out of her head," said Rudolph, wh‚n they had listened'some moments,
and then Tattine turned round and saw them.
"No, I'm not out of my head at all," she laughed; "I was just practicing a
little while I waited for you."
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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 A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: him for doing it. Even after the Armistice, a school textbook "got by"
the Board of Education in a western state, wherein our boys and girls
were to be taught a German version--a Kaiser version--of Germany.
Somebody protested, and the board explained that it "hadn't noticed," and
the book was held up.
We cannot, I fear, order the school histories in Germany to be edited by
the Allies. German school children will grow up believing, in all prob-
ability, that bombs were dropped near Nurnberg in July, 1914, that German
soil was invaded, that the Fatherland fought a war of defense; they will
certainly be nourished by lies in the future as they were nourished by
lies in the past. But we can prevent Germans or pro-Germans writing our
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