| 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: slamming it closed above my head, dropped to the centrale. By this
time the craft was going down by the head with a most unpleasant
list to port, and I didn't wait to transmit orders to some one
else but ran as fast as I could for the valve that let the sea
into the forward port diving-tank. It was wide open. To close
it and to have the pump started that would empty it were the work
of but a minute; but we had had a close call.
I knew that the valve had never opened itself. Some one had
opened it--some one who was willing to die himself if he might at
the same time encompass the death of all of us.
After that I kept a guard pacing the length of the narrow craft.
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 Lady Susan by Jane Austen: always was silly--intolerably so in marrying him at all, she the heiress of
a large fortune and he without a shilling: one title, I know, she might
have had, besides baronets. Her folly in forming the connection was so
great that, though Mr. Johnson was her guardian, and I do not in general
share HIS feelings, I never can forgive her.
Adieu. Yours ever,
ALICIA.
XXVII
MRS. VERNON TO LADY DE COURCY
Churchhill.
This letter, my dear Mother, will be brought you by Reginald. His long
Lady Susan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: little, as he moved, but in the main he seemed to be most cleverly
constructed, and his appearance was only marred by the thick coating of
polishing-paste that covered him from head to foot.
The boy's intent gaze caused the Tin Woodman to remember that he was not in
the most presentable condition, so he begged his friends to excuse him while
he retired to his private apartment and allowed his servants to polish him.
This was accomplished in a short time, and when the emperor returned his
nickel-plated body shone so magnificently that the Scarecrow heartily
congratulated him on his improved appearance.
"That nickel-plate was, I confess, a happy thought," said Nick; "and it was
the more necessary because I had become somewhat scratched during my
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
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 Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: forbid. The weakly, the diseased whether infant or adult, is here
on earth; a British citizen; no more responsible for his own
weakness than for his own existence. Society, that is, in plain
English, we and our ancestors, are responsible for both; and we
must fulfil the duty, and keep him in life; and, if we can, heal,
strengthen, develop him to the utmost; and make the best of that
which "fate and our own deservings" have given us to deal with. I
do not speak of higher motives still; motives which, to every
minister of religion, must be paramount and awful. I speak merely
of physical and social motives, such as appeal to the conscience
of every man--the instinct which bids every human-hearted man or
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