| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith: "She will, will she? She'll come in nothin'. I jollied her about
her flowers, and thought I had her dead ter rights, when she up
an' asked me what we was a-goin' to do for her if she jined, an'
afore I could tell her she opens the front door and gives me the
dead cold."
"Fired ye?" exclaimed McGaw incredulously.
"I'm givin' it to ye straight, Dan; an' she pulled a gun on me,
too,"--telling the lie with perfect composure. "That woman's no
slouch, or I don't know 'em. One thing ye can bet yer bottom
dollar on--all h--- can't scare her. We've got to try some other
way."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: portion given to them and these their duplicates swarming the
streets to-day?--nothing beneath?--all? So many a political
reformer will tell you,--and many a private reformer, too, who
has gone among them with a heart tender with Christ's charity,
and come out outraged, hardened.
One rainy night, about eleven o'clock, a crowd of half-clothed
women stopped outside of the cellar-door. They were going home
from the cotton-mill.
"Good-night, Deb," said one, a mulatto, steadying herself
against the gas-post. She needed the post to steady her. So
did more than one of them.
Life in the Iron-Mills |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: The swiftest hours, observed as they flew,
Towards this afflicted fancy fastly drew;
And, privileg'd by age, desires to know
In brief, the grounds and motives of her woe.
So slides he down upon his grained bat,
And comely-distant sits he by her side;
When he again desires her, being sat,
Her grievance with his hearing to divide:
If that from him there may be aught applied
Which may her suffering ecstasy assuage,
'Tis promised in the charity of age.
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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 Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: favored; but it also made him glad to realize that now he need never
fear being parted from his dear ones. At once he began preparations
for making a remarkable assortment of pretty and amusing playthings,
and in larger quantities than ever before; for now that he might
always devote himself to this work he decided that no child in the
world, poor or rich, should hereafter go without a Christmas gift if
he could manage to supply it.
The world was new in the days when dear old Santa Claus first began
toy-making and won, by his loving deeds, the Mantle of Immortality.
And the task of supplying cheering words, sympathy and pretty
playthings to all the young of his race did not seem a difficult
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
