| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: of /Pecunia non olet/; there used to be fusses about
European loans in China. And one of the favourite themes of
British fiction and drama before the war was the unfortunate
position of the girl who accepted a loan from the wicked man to
pay her debts at bridge."
"Italy," said Captain Pirelli, "isn't a girl. And she hasn't
been playing bridge."
I incline on the whole to his point of view. Money is facile
cosmopolitan stuff. I think that any bank that settles down in
Italy is going to be slowly and steadily naturalised Italian, it
will become more and more Italian until it is wholly Italian. I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: allow such things to be done on the earth beneath? I have heard the
preaching of the white men, and they say that they know all about Him
--that His names are Power and Mercy and Love. Why, then, does He
suffer these things to be done--why does He suffer such men as Chaka
and Dingaan to torment the people of the earth, and in the end pay
them but one death for all the thousands that they have given to
others? Because of the wickedness of the peoples, you say; but no, no,
that cannot be, for do not the guiltless go with the guilty--ay, do
not the innocent children perish by the hundred? Perchance there is
another answer, though who am I, my father, that I, in my folly,
should strive to search out the way of the Unsearchable? Perchance it
Nada the Lily |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: a fine profit; meantime he placed it under the superintendence of his
father-in-law, who, in spite of his seventy-two years, counted for
much in the return of prosperity to the establishment, who himself
renewed his youth in the employment. Graslin was then able to attend
to his legitimate business of banking without anxiety as to the
manufactory.
Sauviat died in 1827 from an accident. While taking account of stock
he fell into a /charasse/,--a sort of crate with an open grating in
which the china was packed; his leg was slightly injured, so slightly
that he paid no attention to it; gangrene set in; he would not consent
to amputation, and therefore died. The widow gave up about two hundred
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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 Long Odds by H. Rider Haggard: for there was a little stream running down the kloof, and I walked
towards this bush. When I got there, however, I could see nothing, so I
took up a big stone and threw it into the bushes. I believe that it hit
the other cub, for out it came with a rush, giving me a broadside shot,
of which I promptly availed myself, knocking it over dead. Out, too,
came the lioness like a flash of light, but quick as she went I managed
to put the other bullet into her ribs, so that she rolled right over
three times like a shot rabbit. I instantly got two more cartridges
into the gun, and as I did so the lioness rose again and came crawling
towards me on her fore-paws, roaring and groaning, and with such an
expression of diabolical fury on her countenance as I have not often
Long Odds |
