| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: own places; the coverlets and bedding; the copper cauldrons; and all
the articles for table use! Nay, though it well may raise a smile of
ridicule (not on the lips of a grave man perhaps, but of some
facetious witling) to hear me say it, a beauty like the cadence of
sweet music[36] dwells even in pots and pans set out in neat array:
and so, in general, fair things ever show more fair when orderly
bestowed. The separate atoms shape themselves to form a choir, and all
the space between gains beauty by their banishment. Even so some
sacred chorus,[37] dancing a roundelay in honour of Dionysus, not only
is a thing of beauty in itself, but the whole interspace swept clean
of dancers owns a separate charm.[38]
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: have been thinking of something else and didn't
realize where we were."
"It will carry us back to where we started
from," predicted Ojo, beginning to be nervous.
"No," replied the Shaggy Man; "it won't do
that, for I know a trick to beat this tricky road.
I've traveled this way before, you know. Turn
around, all of you, and walk backward."
"What good will that do?" asked the cat.
"You'll find out, if you obey me," said the
Shaggy Man.
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: sweet and pleasant a time in all my life before. Never did I know
a real lady to talk with, saving only my mother, and I do tell ye
plain methinks I would rather talk with ye than with any he in
Christendom--saving, perhaps, only my friend Gascoyne. I would I
might come hither again."
The honest frankness of his speech was irresistible; the two
girls exchanged glances and then began laughing. "Truly," said
Lady Anne, who, as was said before, was some three or four years
older than Myles, "thou art a bold lad to ask such a thing. How
wouldst thou come hither? Wouldst tumble through our clematis
arbor again, as thou didst this day?"
Men of Iron |
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 The Pupil by Henry James: young ladies were not at all timid, but it was just the safeguards
that made them so candidly free. It was a houseful of Bohemians
who wanted tremendously to be Philistines.
In one respect, however, certainly they achieved no rigour - they
were wonderfully amiable and ecstatic about Morgan. It was a
genuine tenderness, an artless admiration, equally strong in each.
They even praised his beauty, which was small, and were as afraid
of him as if they felt him of finer clay. They spoke of him as a
little angel and a prodigy - they touched on his want of health
with long vague faces. Pemberton feared at first an extravagance
that might make him hate the boy, but before this happened he had
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