| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest: We was speakin' of folks, jes' common folks,
An' we come to this conclusion,
That one an' all, be they great or small,
Will warm to a home allusion;
That under the skin an' the beaten hide
They're kin in a real affection
For the joys they knew, when their years were
few,
An' the home of their recollection.
LITTLE MASTER MISCHIEVOUS
Little Master Mischievous, that's the name for
A Heap O' Livin' |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: makes similar remarks in another place; but I cannot tell
whether this desolation has been caused by a want of population,
or by an altered condition of the land.
[4] Edinburgh, Phil. Journ., Jan., 1830, p. 74; and April, 1830,
p. 258 -- also Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 438; and Bengal
Journ., vol. vii. p. 324.
[5] Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. iv.
p. 199.
[6] A similar interesting case is recorded in the Madras
Medical Quart. Journ., 1839, p. 340. Dr. Ferguson, in his
admirable Paper (see 9th vol. of Edinburgh Royal Trans.),
The Voyage of the Beagle |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde: O bloody legacy! and O murderous dole!
Which, like the thrifty miser, must I hoard,
And to my own self keep; and so, I pray you,
Let us part here.
ASCANIO
What, shall we never more
Sit hand in hand, as we were wont to sit,
Over some book of ancient chivalry
Stealing a truant holiday from school,
Follow the huntsmen through the autumn woods,
And watch the falcons burst their tasselled jesses,
|
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 Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: he shouted a command to his misshapen crew,
and without waiting to see if they would follow him
leaped into the nearer of the two boats beneath.
It was already half filled with Dyaks, some of whom
were hastily manning the oars. Others of the head
hunters were scrambling over the gunwale. In an
instant pandemonium reigned in the little vessel.
Savage warriors sprang toward the tall figure towering
above them. Parangs flashed. The bull whip hissed and
cracked, and then into the midst of it all came a
horrid avalanche of fearful and grotesque monsters--
The Monster Men |
