| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: Science; and yet, alas! more than ten years elapsed ere I could
even spell out that lesson, though it had been written for me (as
well as for all England) in letters of flame, from the one end of
heaven to the other.
I was a school-boy in Clifton up above. I had been hearing of
political disturbances, even of riots, of which I understood
nothing, and for which I cared nothing. But on one memorable
Sunday afternoon I saw an object which was distinctly not
political. Otherwise I should have no right to speak of it here.
It was an afternoon of sullen autumn rain. The fog hung thick
over the docks and lowlands. Glaring through that fog I saw a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: trucks stood as if they sheltered under a footbridge. The grass
poked out through their wheels. The railway signals seemed
uncertain in their intimations; some were up and some were down.
And it was as still and empty as a summer afternoon in Pompeii.
No train has come into Arras for two long years now.
We lunched in a sunny garden with various men who love Arras but
are weary of it, and we disputed about Irish politics. We
discussed the political future of Sir F. E. Smith. We also
disputed whether there was an equivalent in English for
/embusque./ Every now and then a shell came over--an
aimless shell.
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