| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: because I take it to be a trade carried on with much less honesty
than advantage, especially while the clandestine trade, or the art
of smuggling was so much in practice: what it is now, is not to my
present purpose.
Near this town lie The Seven Burnhams, as they are called, that is
to say, seven small towns, all called by the same name, and each
employed in the same trade of carrying corn to Holland, and
bringing back, - etc.
From hence we turn to the south-west to Castle Rising, an old
decayed borough town, with perhaps not ten families in it, which
yet (to the scandal of our prescription right) sends two members to
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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 Human Drift by Jack London: agents make all business arrangements.
It has been learned that small crews only, and large carriers
only, can return a decent interest on the investment. The
inevitable corollary is that speed and spirit are at a discount.
There is no discussion of the fact that in the sailing merchant
marine the seamen, as a class, have sadly deteriorated. Men no
longer sell farms to go to sea. But the time of which Dana writes
was the heyday of fortune-making and adventure on the sea--with
the full connotation of hardship and peril always attendant.
It was Dana's fortune, for the sake of the picture, that the
Pilgrim was an average ship, with an average crew and officers,
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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 When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. Wells: are everywhere. That blue is its colour. And any
man, woman or child who comes to be hungry and
weary and with neither home nor friend nor resort,
must go to the Company in the end--or seek some
way of death. The Euthanasy is beyond their means
--for the poor there is no easy death. And at any
hour in the day or night there is food, shelter and a
blue uniform for all comers--that is the first
condition of the Company s incorporation--and in return
for a day's shelter the Company extracts a day's work,
and then returns the visitor's proper clothing and
When the Sleeper Wakes |
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 Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: upward till it vanished in the blue ether.
"Is that Iktomi's spirit?" asked one fawn of another.
"No! I think he would jump out before he could burn into
smoke and cinders," answered his comrade.
THE BADGER AND THE BEAR
THE BADGER AND THE BEAR
ON the edge of a forest there lived a large family of badgers.
In the ground their dwelling was made. Its walls and roof were
covered with rocks and straw.
Old father badger was a great hunter. He knew well how to
track the deer and buffalo. Every day he came home carrying on his
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