| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: grotesque mingling of profit and panic.
And from this paper my brother read that catastrophic
despatch of the Commander-in-Chief:
"The Martians are able to discharge enormous clouds of a
black and poisonous vapour by means of rockets. They have
smothered our batteries, destroyed Richmond, Kingston, and
Wimbledon, and are advancing slowly towards London, de-
stroying everything on the way. It is impossible to stop them.
There is no safety from the Black Smoke but in instant flight."
That was all, but it was enough. The whole population of
the great six-million city was stirring, slipping, running; pres-
War of the Worlds |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: out upon the angry waters, my mind filled with unhappy
reflections upon the unjust fate that had overtaken me, and
the sorrow and disgrace that I had unwittingly brought down
upon my house.
I rejoiced that I should leave neither wife nor child to
bear the burden of my shame throughout their lives.
As I thought upon my misfortune, I considered more clearly
than ever before the unrighteousness of the regulation which
was to prove my doom, and in the natural revolt against its
injustice my anger rose, and there mounted within me a
feeling which I imagine must have paralleled that spirit
Lost Continent |
