The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Street of Seven Stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart: sun was moderating the wind. The sentry looked round; no one was
near.
"What do you wish?"
"Inside that third window is a small boy and he is very ill. I do
not think--perhaps he will never be well again. Could you not,
now and then, pass the window? It pleases him."
"Pass the window! But why?"
"In America we see few of our soldiers. He likes to see you and
the gun."
"Ah, the gun!" He smiled and nodded in comprehension, then, as an
officer appeared in the door of a coffee-house across the street,
|
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 Cavalry General by Xenophon: need in the first place the strong support of Heaven; and in the
second place, well will it be for us if our cavalry commander prove
himself a consummate officer.[5] Indeed, he will have need of large
wisdom to deal with a force so vastly superior in numbers, and of
enterprise to strike when the critical moment comes.
[4] See Thuc. ii. 13, 14, 22, etc., and in particular iv. 95,
Hippocrates' speech before the battle of Delium, 424 B.C.
[5] A "parfait marechal."
He must also, as it appears to me, be capable of great physical
endurance;[6] since clearly, if he has to run full tilt against an
armament present, as we picture, in such force that not even our whole
|