| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: farmhouse, with a great array of wooden outbuildings. Here we had a
chance to try our luck with the Norwegian language in demanding "en
hest, saa straxt som muligt." This was what the guide-book told us
to say when we wanted a horse.
There is great fun in making a random cast on the surface of a
strange language. You cannot tell what will come up. It is like an
experiment in witchcraft. We should not have been at all surprised,
I must confess, if our preliminary incantation had brought forth a
cow or a basket of eggs.
But the good people seemed to divine our intentions; and while we
were waiting for one of the stable-boys to catch and harness the new
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: years had destroyed the harvests. This great loss of foodstuffs
was exactly the same as if armies in war had ravaged the fields.
Farmers had to borrow money to buy food. They had no other buying
power. So trade languished, credit was strained, and finally came
the financial collapse. It happened after the good crop years
were returning. That's why the people could not understand it.
Farmers were raising crops again, but labor was idle and could
not buy bread.
The lesson is this, when commerce is starved down to a certain
point, it goes to pieces. Then when the food comes it can not
assimilate it. It is like a man who has been without food for
|
