| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: he said to Dorothy; "and that will delight my heart, for I have greatly
disliked our frequent partings. But why are you all so downcast?"
"Have you heard the news?" asked the Tin Woodman.
"No news to make me sad," replied the Scarecrow.
Then Nick Chopper told his friend of the Nome King's tunnel, and how
the evil creatures of the North had allied themselves with the
underground monarch for the purpose of conquering and destroying Oz.
"Well," said the Scarecrow, "it certainly looks bad for Ozma, and all
of us. But I believe it is wrong to worry over anything before it
happens. It is surely time enough to be sad when our country is
despoiled and our people made slaves. So let us not deprive ourselves
The Emerald City of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: outward and physical labour and craft. These to him have no meaning,
except an allegoric one. But has he thrown them away for the sake of
getting a step nearer to Socrates, or Plato, or Aristotle? Surely not.
To them, as to the old Jewish sages, man is most important when regarded
not merely as a soul, but as a man, a social being of flesh and blood.
Aristotle declares politics to be the architectonical science, the
family and social relations to be the eternal master-facts of humanity.
Plato, in his Republic, sets before himself the Constitution of a State,
as the crowning problem of his philosophy. Every work of his, like
every saying of his master Socrates, deals with the common, outward,
vulgar facts of human life, and asserts that there is a divine meaning
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: The swirl of the water as they came nearer made a
roaring sound that was fearful to listen to. So fierce
and powerful was the whirlpool that it drew the surface
of the sea into the form of a great basin, slanting
downward toward the center, where a big hole had been
made in the ocean -- a hole with walls of water that
were kept in place by the rapid whirling of the air.
The boat in which Trot and Cap'n Bill were riding was
just on the outer edge of this saucer-like slant, and
the old sailor knew very well that unless he could
quickly force the little craft away from the rushing
The Scarecrow of Oz |
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 Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: The Presidente Boirouge, furious at her son's discomfiture, forgot the
praise she had lavished on the poem of /Paquita/, and fulminated
terrific condemnation on the woman who could publish such a
disgraceful work.
"The wretched woman commits every crime she writes about," said she.
"Perhaps she will come to the same end as her heroine!"
Dinah's fate among the good folks of Sancerre was like that of
Marechal Soult in the opposition newspapers; as long as he is minister
he lost the battle of Toulouse; whenever he is out of the Government
he won it! While she was virtuous, Dinah was a match for Camille de
Maupin, a rival of the most famous women; but as soon as she was
The Muse of the Department |
