| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: here, again, it will be found that they are acting with wise
deliberation in granting to[16] even the baser sort the right of
speech, for supposing only the better people might speak, or sit in
council, blessings would fall to the lot of those like themselves, but
to the commonalty the reverse of blessings. Whereas now, any one who
likes, any base fellow, may get up and discover something to the
advantage of himself and his equals. It may be retorted: "And what
sort of advantage either for himself or for the People can such a
fellow be expected to hit upon?" The answer to which is, that in their
judgment the ignorance and baseness of this fellow, together with his
goodwill, are worth a great deal more to them than your superior
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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: behold! grey wolves and black leaped upon the lioness and rent and
worried her till she fell and was torn to pieces by them. After this
the senses of Umslopogaas left him again, and the light went out of
his eyes so that he was as one dead.
At length his mind came back to him, and with it his memory, and he
remembered the lioness and looked up to find her. But he did not find
her, and he saw that he lay in a cave upon a bed of grass, while all
about him were the skins of beasts, and at his side was a pot filled
with water. He put out his hand and, taking the pot, drank of the
water, and then he saw that his arm was wasted as with sickness, and
that his breast was thick with scars scarcely skinned over.
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 Whirligigs by O. Henry: softly: "Ain't there a cop out there in front somewhere
sparking the girl?"
"Yes," said Tommy, "but what -- "
"I'm afraid he'll catch me," said the burglar. "You
mustn't forget that this is fiction."
"Great head!" said Tommy, turning. "Come out
by the back door."
A CHAPARRAL CHRISTMAS GIFT
The original cause of the trouble was about twenty
years in growing.
At the end of that time it was worth it.
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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 Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: what he told 'em, but it didn't mean anythin' to me. But maybe
your show is better'n his was," she added, trying to pacify him.
Douglas was undecided whether to feel amused or grateful for
Polly's ever-increasing sympathy. Before he could trust his
twitching lips to answer, she had put another question to him.
"Are you goin' to do a stunt while I am here?"
"I preach every Sunday, if that's what you mean; I preach this
morning."
"Is this Sunday?" she asked, sitting up with renewed energy and
looking about the room as though everything had changed colour.
"Yes."
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