| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: and the inner door, which "for fear of accidents," he said,
he would lock on the other side, was my limit inward.
He called my attention to a convenient deck-chair before the window,
and to an array of old books, chiefly, I found, surgical works
and editions of the Latin and Greek classics (languages I
cannot read with any comfort), on a shelf near the hammock.
He left the room by the outer door, as if to avoid opening the inner
one again.
"We usually have our meals in here," said Montgomery, and then,
as if in doubt, went out after the other. "Moreau!" I heard
him call, and for the moment I do not think I noticed.
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Love Songs by Sara Teasdale: "`Rivers to the Sea' is the best book of pure lyrics
that has appeared in English since A. E. Housman's `A Shropshire Lad'."
-- William Marion Reedy, in `The Mirror'.
"`Rivers to the Sea' is the most beautiful book of pure lyrics
that has come to my hand in years." -- `Los Angeles Graphic'.
"Sara Teasdale sings about love better than any other contemporary
American poet." -- `The Boston Transcript'.
"`Rivers to the Sea' is the most charming volume of poetry that has appeared
on either side of the Atlantic in a score of years." -- `St. Louis Republic'.
Sara Teasdale (1884-1933):
Teasdale was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where she attended a school
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: would be dangerous to attempt this comparison; for when
statistics are not based upon computations which are strictly
accurate, they mislead instead of guiding aright. The mind is
easily imposed upon by the false affectation of exactness, which
prevails even in the misstatements of science, and it adopts with
confidence errors which are dressed in the forms of mathematical
truth.
We abandon, therefore, our numerical investigation, with the
hope of meeting with data of another kind. In the absence of
positive documents, we may form an opinion as to the proportion
which the taxation of a people bears to its real prosperity, by
|
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 A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: that would give a good view of the end of the now famous
poisoner.
Pale but calm, Derues faced his audience. He was stripped of all
but his shirt; lying flat on the scaffold, his face looking up to
the sky, his head resting on a stone, his limbs were fastened to
the wheel. Then with a heavy bar of iron the executioner broke
them one after another, and each time he struck a fearful cry
came from the culprit. The customary three final blows on the
stomach were inflicted, but still the little man lived. Alive
and broken, he was thrown on to the fire. His burnt ashes,
scattered to the winds, were picked up eagerly by the mob,
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
