| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: no beggar-woman seeks for rags among the rubbish with more care than
such a fabricator of rogues, from trifling, crooked, disjointed, misplaced,
misprinted, and concealed facts and information, acknowledged or denied,
endeavours at length to patch up a scarecrow, by means of which he may
at least hang his victim in effigy; and the poor devil may thank Heaven if
he is in a condition to see himself hanged.
Jetter. He has a ready tongue of his own.
Carpenter. This may serve well enough with flies. Wasps laugh at your
cunning web.
Vansen. According to the kind of spider. The tall duke, now, has just the
look of your garden spider; not the large-bellied kind, they are less
Egmont |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Unsocial Socialist by George Bernard Shaw: our usefulness--and so we must part. Not for ever, my dear; only
until you have cares and business of your own to fill up your
life and prevent you from wasting mine."
"I believe you are mad," she said petulantly. "The world is mad
nowadays, and is galloping to the deuce as fast as greed can goad
it. I merely stand out of the rush, not liking its destination.
Here comes a barge, the commander of which is devoted to me
because he believes that I am organizing a revolution for the
abolition of lock dues and tolls. We will go aboard and float
down to Lyvern, whence you can return to London. You had better
telegraph from the junction to the college; there must be a hue
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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 The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: church.)
The preacher merely raised his eyes, which were large and brown
and slightly protuberant, and murmured with a kind of brave
humility:
"It is true."
"But why do you want to go to Palestine?" said Cleggett.
"She sung in the choir and she had three children," screamed
Cap'n Abernethy, "and she limped some. Folks say she had a cork
foot. Hey, Simeon, DID she have a cork foot?"
Mr. Calthrop flushed painfully, but he forced himself
courageously to answer. "Mr. Abernethy, I do not know," he said
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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 Songs of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: You struck, and my cabin quailed; the roof of it roared like a bell.
You spoke, and at once the mountain shouted and shook with brooks.
You ceased, and the day returned, rosy, with virgin looks.
And methought that beauty and terror are only one, not two;
And the world has room for love, and death, and thunder, and dew;
And all the sinews of hell slumber in summer air;
And the face of God is a rock, but the face of the rock is fair.
Beneficent streams of tears flow at the finger of pain;
And out of the cloud that smites, beneficent rivers of rain.
Vailima.
XL - AN END OF TRAVEL
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