| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: adopted; but for myself, as the result of experience, I maintain that
the proper course is to lay down a loose layer of cobbles from the
road, a pound or so in weight, on which the horse should be put to
stand, when taken from the manger to be groomed.[23] The point is,
that the horse will keep perpetually moving first one foot and then
another on the stones, whilst being rubbed down or simply because he
is fidgeted by flies. Let any one try the experiment, and, I venture
to predict, not only will he come to trust my guidance, but he will
see his horse's hoofs grow just as round and solid as the cobbles.
[23] See below, "Horse." iv. 4. The Greeks did not "shoe" their
horses.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: "Oh, dem's jes' Miss Polly's 'don'ts,' " interrupted Mandy,
disgustedly.
"Her 'don'ts'?"
"She done been set--sit--settin' up nights tryin' to learn what
you done tole her," stuttered Mandy.
"Dear little Polly," he murmured, then closed the book and put it
into his pocket.
Chapter IX
DOUGLAS was turning toward the house when the Widow Willoughby
came through the wicker gate to the left of the parsonage,
carrying bunting for the social. She was followed by Miss
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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 Burning Daylight by Jack London: convention being held in San Francisco, a row was started by
Express Drivers' Union No. 927 over the handling of a small heap
of baggage at the Ferry Building. A few heads were broken, a
score of arrests made, and the baggage was delivered. No one
would have guessed that behind this petty wrangle was the fine
Irish hand of Hegan, made potent by the Klondike gold of Burning
Daylight. It was an insignificant affair at best--or so it
seemed. But the Teamsters' Union took up the quarrel, backed by
the whole Water Front Federation. Step by step, the strike
became involved. A refusal of cooks and waiters to serve scab
teamsters or teamsters' employers brought out the cooks and
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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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: set up a tremendous squawking. It was rather a comical situation, and the
children laughed till their sides ached, but after a while it ceased to be so
funny. The clouds were rolling up blacker, and there was an occasional flash
of lightning far off in the distance, but Barney stood still obdurate and
unmoved, simply revelling in the sensation of the cool water, running
down-stream against his four little donkey-legs. At last Rudolph was at his
wits' end, for what did Tattine and Mabel do but commence to cry. Great drops
of rain were falling now, and they COULD NOT BEAR THE THOUGHT of being mid-way
in that stream with the storm breaking right above their heads, and when
girls, little or big, young or old, cannot bear the thought of things they
cry. It does not always help matters; it frequently makes them more difficult,
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