| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Expedition came in sight of the Enchanted Mountain of
the Flatheads, it was away to the left of them, for the
route they had taken through the Great Forest was some
distance from that followed by Ozma and Dorothy.
They halted awhile to decide whether they should call
upon the Supreme Dictator first, or go on to the Lake
of the Skeezers.
"If we go to the mountain," said the Wizard, "we may
get into trouble with that wicked Su-dic, and then we
would be delayed in rescuing Ozma and Dorothy. So I
think our best plan will be to go to the Skeezer
Glinda of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: most hopeless cases in our Shelters are men of considerable education.
Our schools help to enable a starving man to tell his story in more
grammatical language than that which his father could have employed,
but they do not feed him, or teach him where to go to get fed. So far
from doing this they increase the tendency to drift into those channels
where food is least secure, because employment is most uncertain, and
the market most overstocked.
"Try Trades Unionism," say some, and their advice is being widely
followed. There are many and great advantages in Trades Unionism.
The fable of the bundle of sticks is good for all time. The more the
working people can be banded together in voluntary organisations,
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: cutting throats; but he was so good-natur'd a man that no personal
difference between him and me was occasion'd by the contest, and we
often din'd together.
One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, we met in
the street. "Franklin," says he, "you must go home with me and spend
the evening; I am to have some company that you will like;" and,
taking me by the arm, he led me to his house. In gay conversation
over our wine, after supper, he told us, jokingly, that he much
admir'd the idea of Sancho Panza, who, when it was proposed to give
him a government, requested it might be a government of blacks,
as then, if he could not agree with his people, he might sell them.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
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 Memorabilia by Xenophon: Soc. What quarter of the world do you hail from, Eutherus?
The other answered: From abroad, just before the close of the war; but
at present from the city itself.[1] You see, since we have been
denuded of our possessions across the frontier,[2] and my father left
me nothing in Attica, I must needs bide at home, and provide myself
with the necessaries of life by means of bodily toil, which seems
preferable to begging from another, especially as I have no security
on which to raise a loan.
[1] Lit. "from here." The conversation perhaps takes place in Piraeus
404 B.C.
[2] Or, "colonial possession." Cf. "Symp." iv. 31.
The Memorabilia |
