| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: declined, since she has lost the States; and to these States,
therefore, yet undeveloped, full of dark possibilities, and grown,
like another Eve, from one rib out of the side of their own old land,
the minds of young men in England turn naturally at a certain hopeful
period of their age. It will be hard for an American to understand
the spirit. But let him imagine a young man, who shall have grown up
in an old and rigid circle, following bygone fashions and taught to
distrust his own fresh instincts, and who now suddenly hears of a
family of cousins, all about his own age, who keep house together by
themselves and live far from restraint and tradition; let him imagine
this, and he will have some imperfect notion of the sentiment with
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: rightly, there were a great many other accomplishments in which you
excelled. I have forgotten to mention your art of memory, which you regard
as your special glory, and I dare say that I have forgotten many other
things; but, as I was saying, only look to your own arts--and there are
plenty of them--and to those of others; and tell me, having regard to the
admissions which you and I have made, whether you discover any department
of art or any description of wisdom or cunning, whichever name you use, in
which the true and false are different and not the same: tell me, if you
can, of any. But you cannot.
HIPPIAS: Not without consideration, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Nor will consideration help you, Hippias, as I believe; but then
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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 Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: to halt him, nor could they have done so other than by
the wasting of a precious bullet which might be needed
the next instant to turn the charge of a savage foe.
And so, unmolested, Tarzan passed from the camp of the
Abyssinians, from which the din of conflict followed
him deep into the jungle until distance gradually
obliterated it entirely.
Back to the spot where he had left Werper went the
ape-man, joy in his heart now, where fear and sorrow had
so recently reigned; and in his mind a determination to
forgive the Belgian and aid him in making good his
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
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 Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: voices of the others are heard returning. Crofts, unable to
recover his presence of mind, hurries out of the cottage. The
clergyman appears at the kitchen door.]
REV. S. [looking round] Where is Sir George?
MRS WARREN. Gone out to have a pipe. [The clergyman takes his
hat from the table, and joins Mrs Warren at the fireside.
Meanwhile, Vivie comes in, followed by Frank, who collapses into
the nearest chair with an air of extreme exhaustion. Mrs Warren
looks round at Vivie and says, with her affectation of maternal
patronage even more forced than usual] Well, dearie: have you had
a good supper?
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