| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: His purpose in doing so was to wring from his co-inventor an
admission that the inventions which they had patented together
were his work alone. Peace denied this, but offered to sell his
share for L50. Brion refused the offer, and persisted in his
assertion that Peace had got his name attached to the patents by
undue influence, whatever that might mean. Peace, after wres-
tling with the spirit, gave way. "Very well, my friend," he
said, "let it be as you say. I have not cheated you, Heaven
knows. But I also know that this infamy of mine has been the
cause of bringing harm to you, which is the last thing I should
have wished to have caused to my friend." A deed of gift was
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Three Taverns by Edwin Arlington Robinson: That he contended was imperative.
After a silence that had been too long,
"It may be quite as well we don't," he said;
"As well, I mean, that we don't always say it.
You know best what I mean, and I suppose
You might have said it better. What was that?
Incorrigible? Am I incorrigible?
Well, it's a word; and a word has its use,
Or, like a man, it will soon have a grave.
It's a good word enough. Incorrigible,
May be, for all I know, the word for Norcross.
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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 O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: the county line, where no one lived but some
Russians,--half a dozen families who dwelt
together in one long house, divided off like
barracks. Ivar had explained his choice by
saying that the fewer neighbors he had, the
fewer temptations. Nevertheless, when one
considered that his chief business was horse-
doctoring, it seemed rather short-sighted of
him to live in the most inaccessible place he
could find. The Bergson wagon lurched along
over the rough hummocks and grass banks, fol-
O Pioneers! |
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 Phaedrus by Plato: before the Muses. And when the Muses came and song appeared they were
ravished with delight; and singing always, never thought of eating and
drinking, until at last in their forgetfulness they died. And now they
live again in the grasshoppers; and this is the return which the Muses make
to them--they neither hunger, nor thirst, but from the hour of their birth
are always singing, and never eating or drinking; and when they die they go
and inform the Muses in heaven who honours them on earth. They win the
love of Terpsichore for the dancers by their report of them; of Erato for
the lovers, and of the other Muses for those who do them honour, according
to the several ways of honouring them;--of Calliope the eldest Muse and of
Urania who is next to her, for the philosophers, of whose music the
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