| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Baby Mine by Margaret Mayo: round in her chair, thrown her arms about him, and buried her
tear-stained face against his waist-coat.
"Good Lord!" exclaimed Jimmy, for the third time that morning, as
he glanced nervously toward the door; but Zoie was exclaiming in
her own way and sobbing louder and louder; furthermore she was
compelling Jimmy to listen to an exaggerated account of her many
disappointments in her unreasonable husband. Seeing no
possibility of escape, without resorting to physical violence,
Jimmy stood his ground, wondering what to expect next. He did
not have long to wonder.
CHAPTER V
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: and the foundation perhaps of a form of true happiness which no
Parisian would care for.
"For some time past Monsieur de Merret had been satisfied to ask
Rosalie whether his wife was in bed; on the girl's replying always in
the affirmative, he at once went to his own room, with the good faith
that comes of habit and confidence. But this evening, on coming in, he
took it into his head to go to see Madame de Merret, to tell her of
his ill-luck, and perhaps to find consolation. During dinner he had
observed that his wife was very becomingly dressed; he reflected as he
came home from the club that his wife was certainly much better, that
convalescence had improved her beauty, discovering it, as husbands
La Grande Breteche |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Herland by Charlotte Gilman: observed Moadine gravely. "And two-thirds are the ones who are
--how was it you so beautifully put it?--`loved, honored, kept
in the home to care for the children.' This inferior one-third have
no children, I suppose?"
Jeff--he was getting as bad as they were--solemnly replied that,
on the contrary, the poorer they were, the more children they had.
That too, he explained, was a law of nature:
"Reproduction is in inverse proportion to individuation."
"These `laws of nature,'" Zava gently asked, "are they all the
laws you have?"
"I should say not!" protested Terry. "We have systems of law
Herland |
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 Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: genius or of handicraft, have not advanced much. The pleasures of
Lucullus were as good as those of Samuel Bernard, of Beaujon, or
of the King of Bavaria. And then human longevity has diminished.
"Thus, to those who will be candid, man is still the same; might
is his only law, and success his only wisdom.
"Jesus Christ, Mahomet, and Luther only lent a different hue to
the arena in which youthful nations disport themselves.
"No development of politics has hindered civilization, with its
riches, its manners, its alliance of the strong against the weak,
its ideas, and its delights, from moving from Memphis to Tyre,
from Tyre to Baalbek, from Tadmor to Carthage, from Carthage to
Louis Lambert |
