| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: boyishly in theirs, and knew how to put a face of entertainment
upon business and a spirit of education into entertainment. If he
was to test the progress of the three boys, this advertisement
would appear in their little manuscript paper:- 'Notice: The
Professor of Engineering in the University of Edinburgh intends at
the close of the scholastic year to hold examinations in the
following subjects: (1) For boys in the fourth class of the
Academy - Geometry and Algebra; (2) For boys at Mr. Henderson's
school - Dictation and Recitation; (3) For boys taught exclusively
by their mothers - Arithmetic and Reading.' Prizes were given; but
what prize would be so conciliatory as this boyish little joke? It
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: I shouted to Delcarte and Taylor, who came running to my
side.
"The launch!" cried Delcarte; and, indeed, it was the
launch, floating down-river from above us. Where had it
been? How had we passed it? And how were we to reach it
now, should Snider and the girl discover us?
"It's drifting," said Taylor. "I see no one in it."
I was stripping off my clothes, and Delcarte soon followed
my example. I told Taylor to remain on shore with the
clothing and rifles. He might also serve us better there,
since it would give him an opportunity to take a shot at
Lost Continent |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: people! Well, he doesn't buy me, and therefore there's no need for me
to stay with him. Dead fish of a gentleman, with his celluloid soul!
And how they take one in, with their manners and their mock wistfulness
and gentleness. They've got about as much feeling as celluloid has.'
She made her plans for the night, and determined to get Clifford off
her mind. She didn't want to hate him. She didn't want to be mixed up
very intimately with him in any sort of feeling. She wanted him not to
know anything at all about herself: and especially, not to know
anything about her feeling for the keeper. This squabble of her
attitude to the servants was an old one. He found her too familiar, she
found him stupidly insentient, tough and indiarubbery where other
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: strain to find myself anxious about hers.
At the hour I now speak of she had joined me, under pressure,
on the terrace, where, with the lapse of the season, the afternoon
sun was now agreeable; and we sat there together while, before us,
at a distance, but within call if we wished, the children
strolled to and fro in one of their most manageable moods.
They moved slowly, in unison, below us, over the lawn, the boy,
as they went, reading aloud from a storybook and passing
his arm round his sister to keep her quite in touch.
Mrs. Grose watched them with positive placidity; then I caught
the suppressed intellectual creak with which she conscientiously
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