| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: until civilization can reach us. At present we lie beyond its
pale. The courts, or rather the juries, into whose hands we have
put the law, are not dealing the law. They are withered hands, or
rather they are imitation hands made for show, with no life in
them, no grip. They cannot hold a cattle-thief. And so when your
ordinary citizen sees this, and sees that he has placed justice
in a dead hand, he must take justice back into his own hands
where it was once at the beginning of all things. Call this
primitive, if you will. But so far from being a DEFIANCE of the
law, it is an ASSERTION of it--the fundamental assertion of
selfgoverning men, upon whom our whole social fabric is based.
The Virginian |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: SALISBURY.
But William of Hatfield died without an heir.
YORK.
The third son, Duke of Clarence, from whose line
I claim the crown, had issue, Philippe, a daughter,
Who married Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March.
Edmund had issue, Roger Earl of March;
Roger had issue, Edmund, Anne, and Eleanor.
SALISBURY.
This Edmund, in the reign of Bolingbroke,
As I have read, laid claim unto the crown;
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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 Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis: "Where's the corpse?"
And some thinks mebby some one has cut it down
and took it away, and all gabbles to oncet. But
for a minute no one thinks mebby little Danny has
been egged on to tell lies. Little Danny ain't
saying a word. But Elmira she grabs me and shakes
me and she says:
"You little liar, you, what do you mean by that
tale you told?"
I thinks that lamming is about due now. But
whilst all eyes is turned on me and Elmira, they
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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 Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: and inventing tricks. It is their vocation, Hal. They are
the gratuitous jesters of the class-room; and, like the clown
when he leaves the stage, their merriment too often sinks as
the bell rings the hour of liberty, and they pass forth by
the Post-Office, grave and sedate, and meditating fresh
gambols for the morrow.
This is the impression left on the mind of any observing
student by too many of his fellows. They seem all frigid old
men; and one pauses to think how such an unnatural state of
matters is produced. We feel inclined to blame for it the
unfortunate absence of UNIVERSITY FEELING which is so marked
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