| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: their own merits; and the parallel, besides, is ready. Hans
Christian Andersen, as we behold him in his startling memoirs,
thrilling from top to toe with an excruciating vanity, and scouting
even along the street for shadows of offence - here was the talking
dog.
It is just this rage for consideration that has betrayed the dog
into his satellite position as the friend of man. The cat, an
animal of franker appetites, preserves his independence. But the
dog, with one eye ever on the audience, has been wheedled into
slavery, and praised and patted into the renunciation of his
nature. Once he ceased hunting and became man's plate-licker, the
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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 Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: With a look of mingled surprise, chagrin and incredu-
lity the knight reined in his horse, exclaiming as he
did so, "Mon Dieu, Edward!"
"Draw and defend yourself," cried Norman of Torn.
"But, Your Highness," stammered the knight.
"Draw, or I stick you as I have stuck an hundred
other English pigs," cried Norman of Torn.
The charging steed was almost upon him and the
knight looked to see the rider draw rein, but like a
black bolt the mighty Sir Mortimer struck the other
horse full upon the shoulder, and man and steed rolled
The Outlaw of Torn |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: we give the long "a" they use the short, and words so simple as
to be past mistaking they pronounce somewhere up in the dome of
their heads. How do these things happen?
Oliver Wendell Holmes says that the Yankee school-marm, the cider
and the salt codfish of the Eastern States, are responsible for
what he calls a nasal accent. I know better. They stole books
from across the water without paying for 'em, and the snort of
delight was fixed in their nostrils forever by a just Providence.
That is why they talk a foreign tongue to-day.
"Cats is dogs, and rabbits is dogs, and so's parrots. But this
'ere tortoise is an insect, so there ain't no charge," as the old
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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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: from their march in battle array against the Athenians, as Nicias
also embattled these. And Gylippus, piling his arms in view of the
Athenians, sent a herald to tell them he would give them leave to
depart from Sicily without molestation. To this Nicias would not
vouchsafe any answer, but some of his soldiers laughing asked if
with the sight of one coarse coat and Laconian staff the Syracusan
prospects had become so brilliant that they could despise the
Athenians, who had released to the Lacedaemonians three hundred,
whom they held in chains, bigger men than Gylippus, and
longer-haired? Timaeus, also, writes that even the Syracusans made
no account of Gylippus, at the first sight mocking at his staff and
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