| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: in quite good health - in better health, he distinctly said, than he
usually enjoyed on earth. He had had a fever, but it had left no bad
effects. But curiously enough he seemed to be labouring under a conviction
that I was either dead in the moon crater or lost in the deep of space.
His message began to be received by Mr. Wendigee when that gentleman was
engaged in quite a different investigation. The reader will no doubt
recall the little excitement that began the century, arising out an
announcement by Mr. Nikola Tesla, the American electrical celebrity, that
he had received a message from Mars. His announcement renewed attention to
fact that had long been familiar to scientific people, namely: that from
some unknown source in space, waves of electromagnetic disturbance,
The First Men In The Moon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: me putting down my mutiny, George Merry and Morgan and that lot, no
longer ago'n last chapter; you'd heard something then! You'd 'a'
seen what the Author thinks o' me! But come now, do you consider
yourself a virtuous chara'ter clean through?"
"God forbid!" said Captain Smollett, solemnly. "I am a man that
tries to do his duty, and makes a mess of it as often as not. I'm
not a very popular man at home, Silver, I'm afraid!" and the
Captain sighed.
"Ah," says Silver. "Then how about this sequel of yours? Are you
to be Cap'n Smollett just the same as ever, and not very popular at
home, says you? And if so, why, it's TREASURE ISLAND over again,
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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 Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: above my ankles. What I hated most was that the seams were not in
the right places. It was a patchwork, and there were seams down
the front of the legs where the crease ought to be. I didn't want
to wear the suit, but mother said it looked fine on me, and if
she said so I knew it must be true. I wore it all fall and half
the winter.
The first time I went to Sunday-school, I met Babe Durgon. He
set up the cry:
"Little boy, little boy,
Does your mother know you're out;
With your breeches put on backward,
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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 Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: Cossacks.
"How now, gentles?" announced those who had brought him, "are you
agreed that this Cossack shall be your Koschevoi?"
"We are all agreed!" shouted the throng, and the whole plain trembled
for a long time afterwards from the shout.
One of the chiefs took the staff and brought it to the newly elected
Koschevoi. Kirdyanga, in accordance with custom, immediately refused
it. The chief offered it a second time; Kirdyanga again refused it,
and then, at the third offer, accepted the staff. A cry of approbation
rang out from the crowd, and again the whole plain resounded afar with
the Cossacks' shout. Then there stepped out from among the people the
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
