| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: comes the shameful part. In plain English, the prisoner is
tortured until he confesses and (if that be possible) restores the
money. To keep him alone, day and night, in the black hole, is to
inflict on the Marquesan torture inexpressible. Even his robberies
are carried on in the plain daylight, under the open sky, with the
stimulus of enterprise, and the countenance of an accomplice; his
terror of the dark is still insurmountable; conceive, then, what he
endures in his solitary dungeon; conceive how he longs to confess,
become a full-fledged convict, and be allowed to sleep beside his
comrades. While we were in Tai-o-hae a thief was under prevention.
He had entered a house about eight in the morning, forced a trunk,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: fighting; men marched forward to their deaths as though they were
going on a shooting-party, or to a picnic. I even saw cricketing
bats and wickets occupying some of the scanty space upon the
wagons.
Now I am not going to set out all the military details that
preceded the massacre of Isandhlwana, for these are written in
history. It is enough to say that on the night of January 21,
Major Dartnell, who was in command of the Natal Mounted Police
and had been sent out to reconnoitre the country beyond
Isandhlwana, reported a strong force of Zulus in front of us.
Thereon Lord Chelmsford, the General-in-Chief, moved out from the
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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 Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: the Cathedral had attempted to explain it; but he had not done so
to her satisfaction. And she begged that Robert would interest
himself, and discover, if possible, whether she was entitled to
the indulgence accompanying the remarkably curious Mexican prayer-beads.
Madame Ratignolle hoped that Robert would exercise extreme
caution in dealing with the Mexicans, who, she considered, were a
treacherous people, unscrupulous and revengeful. She trusted she
did them no injustice in thus condemning them as a race. She had
known personally but one Mexican, who made and sold excellent
tamales, and whom she would have trusted implicitly, so softspoken
was he. One day he was arrested for stabbing his wife. She never
Awakening & Selected Short Stories |
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 Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: spoken to once more.
"Joe!" he called, out of the grating. "Good-bye, Joe!"
The old man stopped a moment, listening uncertainly; then
hurried on. The prisoner thrust his hand out of the window, and
called again, louder; but Joe was too far down the street. It
was a little thing; but it hurt him,--this disappointment.
"Good-bye, Joe!" he called, sorrowfully enough.
"Be quiet!" said one of the jailers, passing the door, striking
on it with his club.
Oh, that was the last, was it?
There was an inexpressible bitterness on his face, as he lay
Life in the Iron-Mills |
