| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Davis: effusively for the pleasure of reading them,
and--sent them back. The only word of his which reached
the public was a review of the work of a successful
author. It was so personal, so malignant, that George,
when he read it, writhed with shame and humiliation. He
tore the paper into fragments.
"Am I so envious and small as that! Before God, no words
of mine shall ever go into print again!" he said, and he
kept his word.
He came down every month or two to his mother.
"Why not try teaching, George?" she said anxiously.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herland by Charlotte Gilman: you might say that we have more than we used to--that is, our
standard of perfection seems to get farther and farther away. But
we are not discouraged, because our records do show gain--
considerable gain.
"When we began--even with the start of one particularly
noble mother--we inherited the characteristics of a long race-
record behind her. And they cropped out from time to time--
alarmingly. But it is--yes, quite six hundred years since we have
had what you call a `criminal.'
"We have, of course, made it our first business to train out,
to breed out, when possible, the lowest types."
Herland |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: clearly better than slowness and quietness?
Clearly they are.
Then temperance is not quietness, nor is the temperate life quiet,--
certainly not upon this view; for the life which is temperate is supposed
to be the good. And of two things, one is true,--either never, or very
seldom, do the quiet actions in life appear to be better than the quick and
energetic ones; or supposing that of the nobler actions, there are as many
quiet, as quick and vehement: still, even if we grant this, temperance
will not be acting quietly any more than acting quickly and energetically,
either in walking or talking or in anything else; nor will the quiet life
be more temperate than the unquiet, seeing that temperance is admitted by
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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 Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: The path on which we now entered was cut, like a tunnel,
through the living jungle. On either hand and overhead, the
mass of foliage was continuously joined; the day sparingly
filtered through the depth of super-impending wood; and the
air was hot like steam, and heady with vegetable odours, and
lay like a load upon the lungs and brain. Underfoot, a great
depth of mould received our silent footprints; on each side,
mimosas, as tall as a man, shrank from my passing skirts with
a continuous hissing rustle; and but for these sentient
vegetables, all in that den of pestilence was motionless and
noiseless.
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