| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry: End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.
The Gift of the Magi |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris:
"But--but--but so sudden!" whispered Condy, all aghast. "That's
what makes me faint--the suddenness of it."
"It shows how much they are in love, how--how readily they--
adapted themselves to each other. No, it's all right."
"They seemed to like us--actually."
"Well, they had better--if they knew the truth. Without us they
never would have met."
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland: boys, explained to them our object, and asked them to play for
us. Some one may say that this was the worst possible thing to
do, as it would make the children self-conscious and hence
unnatural--the sequel, however, will show.
At first that was exactly what happened. The children
tittered, and looked at each other in blank astonishment,
then one of them walked away and several others gathered
about us. We repeated our explanation in order to secure
their interest, set their minds to work thinking up games,
and do away with the embarrassment, and it was only a
|
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 Enemies of Books by William Blades: against the opposing mass of paper. But when freed from the restraint,
which indeed to them is life, they CANNOT eat although surrounded
with food, for they have no legs to keep them steady, and their natural,
leverage is wanting.
Considering the numerous old books contained in the British Museum,
the Library there is wonderfully free from the worm.
Mr. Rye, lately the Keeper of the Printed Books there,
writes me "Two or three were discovered in my time, but they
were weakly creatures. One, I remember, was conveyed into
the Natural History Department, and was taken into custody
by Mr. Adam White who pronounced it to be Anobium pertinax.
|
