| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: grape arbor and as I was respectfully saluting the cheek
of the Princess, two of the King's guards seized me and
beat me terribly before the very eyes of Gloria, whom the
King himself held back so she could not interfere."
"Why, this King must be a monster!" cried Trot.
"He is far worse than that," said Pon, mournfully.
"But, see here," interrupted Cap'n Bill, who had
listened carefully to Pon. "This King may not be so much
to blame, after all. Kings are proud folks, because
they're so high an' mighty, an' it isn't reasonable for a
royal Princess to marry a common gardener's boy."
The Scarecrow of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Octopus by Frank Norris: With a gesture of resignation, he drew himself laboriously out of
the dance, limping abominably, one leg dragging. He was heard
asking for his wife. Old Mrs. Broderson took him in charge. She
jawed him for making an exhibition of himself, scolding as though
he were a ten-year-old.
"Well, I want to know!" she exclaimed, as he hobbled off,
dejected and melancholy, leaning upon her arm, "thought he had to
dance, indeed! What next? A gay old grandpa, this. He'd
better be thinking of his coffin."
It was almost midnight. The dance drew towards its close in a
storm of jubilation. The perspiring musicians toiled like galley
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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 Profits of Religion by Upton Sinclair: body rich." Another offers two copies of the "Phrenological Era"
for ten cents.
There is apparently no delusion of any age or clime which cannot
find dupes among the readers of this New Nonsense. One notice
commands:
Stop! A Revelation! A Book has been written entitled "Strands of
Gold" or "From Darkness into Light!"
Another announces:
The Most Wonderful Book of the Ages: The Acquarian Gospel of
Jesus the Christ, Transcribed from the Book of God's Remembrance,
the Akashic Records.
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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 War in the Air by H. G. Wells: of Mr. Butteridge; then a lady's large fur cloak, and round his
knees a blanket. Over his head was a tow wig, surmounted by a
large cap of Mr. Butteridge's with the flaps down over his ears.
And some fur sleeping-boots of Mr. Butteridge's warmed his feet.
The car of the balloon was small and neat, some bags of ballast
the untidiest of its contents, and he had found a light
folding-table and put it at his elbow, and on that was a glass
with champagne. And about him, above and below, was space--such
a clear emptiness and silence of space as only the aeronaut can
experience.
He did not know where he might be drifting, or what might happen
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