| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: cruised slowly along, two of the boches again saw what they
believed to be a man, or manlike creature, watching us from a
fringe of trees a hundred yards inland, and shortly after we
discovered the mouth of a small stream emptying into the bay:
It was the first stream we had found since leaving the river, and
I at once made preparations to test its water. To land, it would
be necessary to run the U-33 close in to the shore, at least as
close as we could, for even these waters were infested, though,
not so thickly, by savage reptiles. I ordered sufficient water
let into the diving-tanks to lower us about a foot, and then I
ran the bow slowly toward the shore, confident that should we run
The Land that Time Forgot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: "Three or four thousand, perhaps, as a loan."
"Does the doctor say he will get well?"
"A fighting chance--the doctor says."
The face of the older man changed subtly. Not a line was
altered,
but it seemed to have a different substance, as if it were
carved out of some firm, imperishable stuff.
"A fighting chance," he said, "may do for a speculation, but it
is
not a good investment. You owe something to young Rollins.
Your grateful feeling does you credit. But don't overwork it.
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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 Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: his best to keep things going--he tried so hard that he bent many
of the parts--and then as he tried even harder, he burned himself
out. "This is all the fault of that little nut," the ruined parts
all agreed.
"I'll give ya three bucks for it," said the junk man to the
office manager.
Stewardship
A wise man approached three young men standing around idly.
"Here is a coin worth a hundred dollars," the wise man said to the
first youth. "What should I do with it?"
"Give it to me," he said at once.
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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 Menexenus by Plato: much value is that of Aristotle; for the Alexandrian catalogues of a
century later include manifest forgeries. Even the value of the
Aristotelian authority is a good deal impaired by the uncertainty
concerning the date and authorship of the writings which are ascribed to
him. And several of the citations of Aristotle omit the name of Plato, and
some of them omit the name of the dialogue from which they are taken.
Prior, however, to the enquiry about the writings of a particular author,
general considerations which equally affect all evidence to the genuineness
of ancient writings are the following: Shorter works are more likely to
have been forged, or to have received an erroneous designation, than longer
ones; and some kinds of composition, such as epistles or panegyrical
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