| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain: every now and then we heard a succession of the keen
hissing sounds which the sword makes when it is being
put through its paces in the air, and this informed us
that a student was practicing. Necessarily, this unceasing
attention to the art develops an expert occasionally.
He becomes famous in his own university, his renown spreads
to other universities. He is invited to Go"ttingen,
to fight with a Go"ttingen expert; if he is victorious,
he will be invited to other colleges, or those colleges will
send their experts to him. Americans and Englishmen often
join one or another of the five corps. A year or two ago,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: valiant, and prolific races in Europe? Had they drunk less whisky
they would, doubtless, have been more healthy, able, valiant, and
perhaps even MORE prolific, than they are now. They show no sign,
however, as yet, of going the way of the Red Indian.
But if the craving for stimulants and narcotics is a token of
deficient vitality, then the deadliest foe of that craving, and
all its miserable results, is surely the Sanatory Reformer; the
man who preaches, and--as far as ignorance and vested interests
will allow him, procures--for the masses, pure air, pure sunlight,
pure water, pure dwelling-houses, pure food. Not merely every
fresh drinking-fountain, but every fresh public bath and wash-
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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 The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Jack Pumpkinhead watched Tip curiously, but refused to join in the repast.
"I don't seem to be made the same way you are," he said.
"I know you are not," returned Tip; "for I made you."
"Oh! Did you?" asked Jack.
"Certainly. And put you together. And carved your eyes and nose and ears and
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34
mouth," said Tip proudly. "And dressed you."
Jack looked at his body and limbs critically.
"It strikes me you made a very good job of it," he remarked.
"Just so-so," replied Tip, modestly; for he began to see certain defects in
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
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 People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: our cave she heard voices from the far recesses within, and
immediately concluded that we had but found another entrance
to the caves which the Band-lu occupied upon the other face of
the cliff. Then she had set out through those winding passages
and in total darkness had groped her way, guided solely by a
marvelous sense of direction, to where I lay. She had had to
proceed with utmost caution lest she fall into some abyss in
the darkness and in truth she had thrice come upon sheer drops
and had been forced to take the most frightful risks to pass them.
I shudder even now as I contemplate what this girl passed through
for my sake and how she enhanced her peril in loading herself
The People That Time Forgot |
