| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: oftener than I have ever gone to any one. That
ought to satisfy you."
Ivar bowed humbly. "Yes, mistress, I shall
not trouble you with their talk again. And as
for my feet, I have observed your wishes all
these years, though you have never questioned
me; washing them every night, even in winter."
Alexandra laughed. "Oh, never mind about
your feet, Ivar. We can remember when half
O Pioneers! |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: But should some say that always souls of men
Go into human bodies, I will ask:
How can a wise become a dullard soul?
And why is never a child's a prudent soul?
And the mare's filly why not trained so well
As sturdy strength of steed? We may be sure
They'll take their refuge in the thought that mind
Becomes a weakling in a weakling frame.
Yet be this so, 'tis needful to confess
The soul but mortal, since, so altered now
Throughout the frame, it loses the life and sense
Of The Nature of Things |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: I have lived!" And with another and greater one, we can lay
ourselves down with a will. The one drop of living, the one taste
of being, has been good; and perhaps our greatest achievement will
be that we dreamed immortality, even though we failed to realise
it.
SMALL-BOAT SAILING
A sailor is born, not made. And by "sailor" is meant, not the
average efficient and hopeless creature who is found to-day in the
forecastle of deepwater ships, but the man who will take a fabric
compounded of wood and iron and rope and canvas and compel it to
obey his will on the surface of the sea. Barring captains and
|
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 Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: Danieli's by himself he would be moped to death, and on the morning
of the 15th they started, with a strong nor'-east wind blowing, and
a rather choppy sea. The sport was excellent, and the free, open-
air life brought the colour back to Lord Arthur's cheek, but about
the 22nd he became anxious about Lady Clementina, and, in spite of
Surbiton's remonstrances, came back to Venice by train.
As he stepped out of his gondola on to the hotel steps, the
proprietor came forward to meet him with a sheaf of telegrams.
Lord Arthur snatched them out of his hand, and tore them open.
Everything had been successful. Lady Clementina had died quite
suddenly on the night of the 17th!
|
