| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Walking by Henry David Thoreau: will lead you straight to it; for it, too, has its place merely,
and does not occupy all space. I pass from it as from a bean
field into the forest, and it is forgotten. In one half-hour I
can walk off to some portion of the earth's surface where a man
does not stand from one year's end to another, and there,
consequently, politics are not, for they are but as the
cigar-smoke of a man.
The village is the place to which the roads tend, a sort of
expansion of the highway, as a lake of a river. It is the body of
which roads are the arms and legs--a trivial or quadrivial place,
the thoroughfare and ordinary of travelers. The word is from the
Walking |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: these gentlemen in actual service, and have taken their measure, which I
can give you at once; for none of these masters of fence have ever been
distinguished in war,--there has been a sort of fatality about them; while
in all other arts the men of note have been always those who have practised
the art, they appear to be a most unfortunate exception. For example, this
very Stesilaus, whom you and I have just witnessed exhibiting in all that
crowd and making such great professions of his powers, I have seen at
another time making, in sober truth, an involuntary exhibition of himself,
which was a far better spectacle. He was a marine on board a ship which
struck a transport vessel, and was armed with a weapon, half spear, half
scythe; the singularity of this weapon was worthy of the singularity of the
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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 Two Noble Kinsmen by William Shakespeare: BROTHER.
Yes.
DAUGHTER.
Wher's my wedding Gowne?
BROTHER.
Ile bring it to morrow.
DAUGHTER.
Doe, very rarely; I must be abroad else
To call the Maides, and pay the Minstrels,
For I must loose my Maydenhead by cock-light;
Twill never thrive else.
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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 The Redheaded Outfield by Zane Grey: wanted, doubled his ridiculously modest demand,
paid him in advance, and got his name to the
contract. Then I breathed a long, deep breath; the
first one for weeks. Something told me that with
Hurtle's signature in my pocket I had the Eastern
League pennant. Then I invited all concerned
down to the Rickettsville hotel.
We made connections at the railroad junction
and reached Worcester at midnight in time for a
good sleep. I took the silent and backward
pitcher to my hotel. In the morning we had
The Redheaded Outfield |
