| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: room at school who stayed out on the Day of Atonement, and
on New Year, and the lesser Jewish holidays. Also, she went
to temple on Friday night and Saturday morning, when the
other girls she knew went to church on Sunday. These things
set her apart in the little Middle Western town; but it was
not these that constituted the real difference. She played,
and slept, and ate, and studied like the other healthy
little animals of her age. The real difference was
temperamental, or emotional, or dramatic, or historic, or
all four. They would be playing tag, perhaps, in one of the
cool, green ravines that were the beauty spots of the little
Fanny Herself |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: them, a plain about twenty miles wide, bounded on the opposite
side by their old acquaintances, the Pilot Knobs, those towering
mountains which had served Mr. Hunt as landmarks in part of his
route of the preceding year. Through the intermediate plain
wandered a river about fifty yards wide, sometimes gleaming in
open day, but oftener running through willowed banks, which
marked its serpentine course.
Those of the party who had been across these mountains, pointed
out much of the bearings of the country to Mr. Stuart. They
showed him in what direction must lie the deserted post called
Henry's Fort, where they had abandoned their horses and embarked
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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 Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The money counted Billy slowly rolled a cigarette.
He saw that the bank was roughly divided into two sections
by a wire and wood partition. On one side were the customers,
on the other the clerks and a teller. The latter sat behind
a small wicket through which he received deposits and cashed
checks. Back of him, against the wall, stood a large safe of
American manufacture. Billy had had business before with
similar safes. A doorway in the rear wall led into the yard
behind the building. It was closed by a heavy door covered
with sheet iron and fastened by several bolts and a thick,
strong bar. There were no windows in the rear wall. From
The Mucker |
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 On Horsemanship by Xenophon: part may be brought about at home and by the groom--if he knows how to
let the animal connect[8] hunger and thirst and the annoyance of flies
with solitude, whilst associating food and drink and escape from
sources of irritation with the presence of man. As the result of this
treatment, necessarily the young horse will acquire--not fondness
merely, but an absolute craving for human beings. A good deal can be
done by touching, stroking, patting those parts of the body which the
creature likes to have so handled. These are the hairiest parts, or
where, if there is anything annoying him, the horse can least of all
apply relief himself.
[1] Or, "The training of the colt is a topic which, as it seems to us,
On Horsemanship |
