| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: advice, I may add, that I invested my little fortune in Turkish
bonds; when we have added these spoils of the mediaeval church to
our stake in the Mahometan empire, little boy, we shall positively
roll among doubloons, positively roll! Beautiful forest,' he
cried, 'farewell! Though called to other scenes, I will not forget
thee. Thy name is graven in my heart. Under the influence of
prosperity I become dithyrambic, Jean-Marie. Such is the impulse
of the natural soul; such was the constitution of primaeval man.
And I - well, I will not refuse the credit - I have preserved my
youth like a virginity; another, who should have led the same
snoozing, countryfied existence for these years, another had become
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: complete.[29]
[28] Lit. "perioecid"; see Plut. "Ages." xxxii. (Clough, iv. 39);
"Hell." VI. v. 32.
[29] Is this parallel to "Hell." VII. v. 10, or "Hell." VI. v. 28?
According to the historian, Agesilaus adopted similar tactics on
both occasions (in B.C. 369 and B.C. 362 alike). The encomiast
after his manner appears to treat them as one. Once and again his
hero "cunctando restituit rem," but it was by the same strategy.
After the invading army had retired, no one will gainsay the sound
sense of his behaviour. Old age debarred him from active service on
foot or horse, and what the city chiefly needed now, he saw, 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 Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: And the other little girls that were still washing their hands in
the white basins on the low shelf by the back-gallery lattice sang
over and over again:
``Wash together! We'll wash together!
And we'll be happy forever!''
When all the pink clean tiny hands were wiped dry, or as nearly dry
as little girls do wipe tiny pink hands, on the pink checked towel
held for them by Sister Angela, then Sister Angela hung the pink
checked towel on the lowest limb of the arbor-vita tree. Then the
little girls all ran to sit down in a row on the lowest step of the
back gallery, with their little feet on the gravel below. Sister
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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 Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: He sketched a vast gesture, pointing to the station.
Locomotives belched huge clouds of black dense smoke
rising in columns; the trains were overloaded with fugi-
tives who had barely managed to escape from the cap-
tured town.
Suddenly he felt a sharp blow in the stomach. As though
his legs were putty, he rolled off the rock. His ears buzzed. . . Then darkness . . . silence . . .
eternity. . . .
PART TWO
Demetrio, nonplussed, scratched his head: "Look
here, don't ask me any more questions. . . . You gave me
The Underdogs |
