| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: ventured to make a remark upon the tediousness of travelling--he
let the soup and fish go by before he did this--she did not simply
assent to his proposition, but responded with another. They were
soon comparing their journeys, and Helen and Fanny were cruelly
overlooked in the conversation. It was to be the same journey,
they found; one day for the galleries at Florence--"from what I
hear," said the young man, "it is barely enough,"--and the rest
at Rome. He talked of Rome very pleasantly; he was evidently quite
well read, and he quoted Horace about Soracte. Miss Winchelsea had
"done" that book of Horace for her matriculation, and was delighted
to cap his quotation. It gave a sort of tone to things, this
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: we cannot be seen and therefore cannot be found. In other words, the
Land of Oz will entirely disappear from the knowledge of the rest of
the world."
"That's all right," said Dorothy, cheerfully. "You may make Oz
invis'ble as soon as you please, for all I care."
"It is already invisible," Glinda stated. "I knew Ozma's wishes,
and performed the Magic Spell before you arrived."
Ozma seized the hand of the Sorceress and pressed it gratefully.
"Thank you!" she said.
30. How the Story of Oz Came to an End
The writer of these Oz stories has received a little note from
The Emerald City of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: The grounds are nobly situated; being very high and commanding a wide
prospect of land and river. They are tastefully laid out in broad terraces,
with winding roads and paths; and there is profuse adornment in the way
of semi-tropical shrubs and flowers,' and in one part is a piece of native
wild-wood, left just as it grew, and, therefore, perfect in its charm.
Everything about this cemetery suggests the hand of the national Government.
The Government's work is always conspicuous for excellence, solidity,
thoroughness, neatness. The Government does its work well in the first place,
and then takes care of it.
By winding-roads--which were often cut to so great a depth between
perpendicular walls that they were mere roofless tunnels--we drove
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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 A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: known relations with Florine. The actress would certainly drive off
the countess, or vice versa. But when, on coming home that evening, he
found his sister-in-law with a perturbed face, in consultation with
his wife about money, it occurred to him that Raoul had, in all
probability, confided to her his situation. The countess must
therefore love him; she had doubtless come to obtain from her sister
the sum due to old Gigonnet. Madame du Tillet, unaware, of course, of
the reasons for her husband's apparently supernatural penetration, had
shown such stupefaction when he told her the sum wanted, that du
Tillet's suspicions became certainties. He was sure now that he held
the thread of all Nathan's possible manoeuvres.
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