| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: broad. The path debouched about the midst of the re-entrant angle,
the woods stopping some distance inland. In front, between the
fringe of the wood and the crown of the beach, there had been
designed a regular figure, like the court for some new variety of
tennis, with borders of round stones imbedded, and pointed at the
angles with low posts, likewise of stone. This was the king's Pray
Place. When he prayed, what he prayed for, and to whom he
addressed his supplications I could never learn. The ground was
tapu.
In the angle, by the mouth of the path, stood a deserted maniap'.
Near by there had been a house before our coming, which was now
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: the truth before long?"
"Then, Macumazahn, wait till you do find it out, And may it please you,"
he replied, and went off to speak with his people at a distance.
All that night I heard them talking off and on--I, who lay awake plunged
into new miseries. I was sure that some other dreadful thing had
happened. Probably Dingaan's armies had destroyed all the Boers, and,
if so, oh! what had become of Marie? Was she dead, or had she perhaps
been taken prisoner, as Dingaan had told me would be done for his own
vile purposes? For aught I knew she might now be travelling under
escort to Umgungundhlovu, as I was travelling to Natal.
The morning came at last, and that day, about noon, we reached a ford of
Marie |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: one of those frankly glaring establishments, all white,
paint and glass, where one may dine cheaply and
conspicuously. The girl penetrated the restaurant to
some retreat at its rear, whence she quickly emerged
without her bat and veil.
The cashier's desk was well to the front. A red-
head girl an the stool climbed down, glancing
pointedly at the clock as she did so. The girl in
gray mounted in her place.
The young man thrust his hands into his pockets
and walked slowly back along the sidewalk. At the
The Voice of the City |
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 Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: reason and conscience were sufficient guides for all men, and at them
the many might well stop short. The teacher only needed to proceed
further, not into a higher region, but into a lower one, namely, into
the region of the logical understanding, and there make deductions from,
and illustrations of, those higher truths which he held in common with
every slave, and held on the same ground as they.
And the consequence of this method of philosophising was patent. They
were enabled to produce, in the lives of millions, generation after
generation, a more immense moral improvement than the world had ever
seen before. Their disciples did actually become righteous and good
men, just in proportion as they were true to the lessons they learnt.
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