| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: fetish is safe for three centuries yet. The bust, too--there in
the Stratford Church. The precious bust, the priceless bust, the
calm bust, the serene bust, the emotionless bust, with the dandy
mustache, and the putty face, unseamed of care--that face which
has looked passionlessly down upon the awed pilgrim for a hundred
and fifty years and will still look down upon the awed pilgrim
three hundred more, with the deep, deep, deep, subtle, subtle,
subtle expression of a bladder.
XII
Irreverence
One of the most trying defects which I find in these--these
What is Man? |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: it in repair, as I have a plank of wood in the house.'
"'A plank of wood'! said the Miller; 'why, that is just what I want
for the roof of my barn. There is a very large hole in it, and the
corn will all get damp if I don't stop it up. How lucky you
mentioned it! It is quite remarkable how one good action always
breeds another. I have given you my wheelbarrow, and now you are
going to give me your plank. Of course, the wheelbarrow is worth
far more than the plank, but true, friendship never notices things
like that. Pray get it at once, and I will set to work at my barn
this very day.'
"'Certainly,' cried little Hans, and he ran into the shed and
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: which refuses to pay the Parisian imposts and the tax-gatherer who,
living by his receipt of custom, lards the public with new ideas,
turns it on the spit of lively projects, roasts it with prospectuses
(basting all the while with flattery), and finally gobbles it up with
some toothsome sauce in which it is caught and intoxicated like a fly
with a black-lead. Moreover, since 1830 what honors and emoluments
have been scattered throughout France to stimulate the zeal and self-
love of the "progressive and intelligent masses"! Titles, medals,
diplomas, a sort of legion of honor invented for the army of martyrs,
have followed each other with marvellous rapidity. Speculators in the
manufactured products of the intellect have developed a spice, a
|
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 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: first alive?"
"That I have forgotten," replied the Gump's Head, "and I do not think
it is of much importance. But here comes Ozma; so I'd better hush up,
for the Princess doesn't like me to chatter since she changed her name
from Tip to Ozma."
Just then the girlish Ruler of Oz opened the door and greeted Dorothy
with a good-morning kiss. The little Princess seemed fresh and rosy
and in good spirits.
"Breakfast is served, dear," she said, "and I am hungry. So don't let
us keep it waiting a single minute."
17. The Nine Tiny Piglets
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
