| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: principle at all. We may conceive an Utopia, governed by an
aristocracy which should be really democratic; which should use,
under developed forms, that method which made the mediaeval
priesthood the one great democratic institution of old Christendom;
bringing to the surface and utilising the talents and virtues of all
classes, even to the lowest. We may conceive an aristocracy
choosing out, and gladly receiving into its own ranks as equals,
every youth, every maiden, who was distinguished by intellect,
virtue, valour, beauty, without respect to rank or birth; and
rejecting in turn, from its own ranks, each of its own children who
fell below some lofty standard, and showed by weakliness, dulness,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: the pleasure of her wit. These are the shades of which the lady is a
marvelous mistress. What she likes in you is a man to swell her
circle, an object for the cares and attentions which such women are
now happy to bestow. Therefore, to attract you to her drawing-room,
she will be bewitchingly charming. This especially is where you feel
how isolated women are nowadays, and why they want a little world of
their own, to which they may seem a constellation. Conversation is
impossible without generalities."
"Yes," said de Marsay, "you have truly hit the fault of our age. The
epigram--a volume in a word--no longer strikes, as it did in the
eighteenth century, at persons or at things, but at squalid events,
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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 Sportsman by Xenophon: that give instruction, but thoughts and sentiments worthy the name.
[1] Cf. Isocr. "Against the Sophists"; "Antidosis"; "Hel. Encom.";
Plat. "Sophist."
[2] Who are these {oi nun sophistai}?
[3] Lit. "do they present writings to the world."
[4] Or, "as to certain weightier matters gravely."
[5] {remata} = "words and phrases"; {ynomai} = "moral maxims, just
thoughts."
[6] "Being myself but a private individual and a plain man." According
to Hartman, "A. X. N." p. 350, "ridicule detorquet Hesiodeum":
{outos men panaristos os auto panta noese
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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 Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: heart from his very boyhood. And without--the frontier warfare;
the yearning of a boy, cast ashore upon a desert of newness and
ugliness and sordidness, for all that is chastened and old, and
noble with traditions.
At eleven o'clock the tall, flat woman in black crepe
entered, announced that the watchers were arriving, and asked
them "to step into the dining room." As Steavens rose the lawyer
said dryly: "You go on--it'll be a good experience for you,
doubtless; as for me, I'm not equal to that crowd tonight; I've
had twenty years of them."
As Steavens closed the door after him be glanced back at the
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
