| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: It was no use my telling myself that in my father's time the era
of light railways had not dawned, and that if it had, we should
have done our utmost to secure one; the thought of my cousin,
stepping into my shoes, and then altering them, was odious to me.
By the time I was walking up the hill from the station I
had got over this feeling too, and had entered a third stage
of wondering uneasily what in the world I should do next.
Where was the intrepid courage with which I had started?
At the top of the first hill I sat down to consider this question
in detail, for I was very near the house now, and felt I wanted time.
Where, indeed, was the courage and joy of the morning?
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: beings higher than man, one glorious order of love and wisdom, linking
them all to Him from whom they all proceed, rays from His cloudless
sunlight, mirrors of His eternal glory.
But as the Elizabethan age, exhausted by its own fertility, gave place
to the Caroline, Neoplatonism ran through much the same changes. It was
good for us, after all, that the plain strength of the Puritans,
unphilosophical as they were, swept it away. One feels in reading the
later Neoplatonists, Henry More, Smith, even Cudworth (valuable as he
is), that the old accursed distinction between the philosopher, the
scholar, the illuminate, and the plain righteous man, was growing up
again very fast. The school from which the "Religio Medici" issued was
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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 On Revenues by Xenophon: would get on bottomry, of nearly one-fifth,[18] as the recipient of
three obols a day. The contributor of five minae[19] will on the same
principle get more than a third,[20] while the majority of Athenians
will get more than cent per cent on their contribution. That is to
say, a subscription of one mina[21] will put the subscriber in
possession of nearly double that sum,[22] and that, moreover, without
setting foot outside Athens, which, as far as human affairs go, is as
sound and durable a security as possible.
[15] "A good substantial property."
[16] Or, "on the other hand, I affirm that the outlay necessary to
form the capital for my present project will be more remunerative
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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 Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: them. A couple of days later, however, the girl, being
again with Ozma, wished to see her friends, the
Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman in the Magic Picture, and
on this occasion found them in the great castle of Mrs.
Yoop, the Giantess, who was at the time about to
transform them. Both Dorothy and Ozma now became
greatly interested and watched the transformations with
indignation and horror.
"What a wicked Giantess!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"Yes," answered Ozma, "she must be punished for this
cruelty to our friends, and to the poor boy who is with
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
