| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: Job printing, as it is called, was not so abundant at this season but
that Cerizet could manage it without help. Cerizet, compositor,
clicker, and foreman, realized in his person the "phenomenal
triplicity" of Kant; he set up type, read proof, took orders, and made
out invoices; but the most part of the time he had nothing to do, and
used to read novels in his den at the back of the workshop while he
waited for an order for a bill-head or a trade circular. Marion,
trained by old Sechard, prepared and wetted down the paper, helped
Kolb with the printing, hung the sheets to dry, and cut them to size;
yet cooked the dinner, none the less, and did her marketing very early
of a morning.
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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 Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: They all looked upon the boy wonderingly, for the fox head with its
sharp nose and pointed ears was gone, and in its place appeared the
chubby round face and blue eyes and pretty curls that had belonged to
Button-Bright before King Dox of Foxville transformed him.
"Oh, what a darling!" cried Polly, and would have hugged the little
one had he not been so wet.
Their joyful exclamations made the child rub the water out of his eyes
and look at his friends questioningly.
"You're all right now, dear," said Dorothy. "Come and look at yourself."
She led him to the pool, and although there were still a few ripples
on the surface of the water he could see his reflection plainly.
The Road to Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Market-Place by Harold Frederic: side--and it's there now, for that matter"--he put his hand
to his breast, as if under the impulse to verify his words
by the production of the missive, and then stopped and flushed.
The ladies, watching him, seemed by their eyes to condone
the mawkishness of the demonstration which had tempted him.
There was indeed a kind of approving interest in their
joint regard, which he had not experienced before.
"I had it in my pocket," he resumed, with an accession
of mellow emotion in his voice, "and none of the callers
ever got my thoughts very far from that letter.
And one of these was an old man--a French banker who must
The Market-Place |
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 Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number
of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of
their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present
deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great additional
grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and
easy method of making these children sound and useful members of
the common-wealth, would deserve so well of the publick, as to
have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.
But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only
for the children of professed beggars: it is of a much greater
A Modest Proposal |
