| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: President:--
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "EDINBURGH WEEKLY JOURNAL."
Sir,--I am extremely sorry I have not leisure to correct the copy
you sent me of what I am stated to have said at the dinner for
the Theatrical Fund. I am no orator, and upon such occasions as
are alluded to, I say as well as I can what the time requires.
However, I hope your reporter has been more accurate in other
instances than in mine. I have corrected one passage, in which I
am made to speak with great impropriety and petulance, respecting
the opinions of those who do not approve of dramatic
entertainments. I have restored what I said, which was meant to
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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 Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: seen more wonders than most mortals ever do.
Another little girl from our outside world also lived
in Ozma's palace. This was Betsy Bobbin, whose strange
adventures had brought her to the Emerald City, where
Ozma had cordially welcomed her. Betsy was a shy little
thing and could never get used to the marvels that
surrounded her, but she and Dorothy were firm friends and
thought themselves very fortunate in being together in
this delightful country.
One day Dorothy and Betsy were visiting Ozma in the
girl Ruler's private apartment, and among the things that
The Scarecrow of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: some who ought to know better doing the same thing now; and others, who
more wisely believe them to be strictly physical and nervous, so utterly
unable to give reasons for them, that they feel it expedient to ignore
them for awhile, till they know more about those physical phenomena
which can be put under some sort of classification, and attributed to
some sort of inductive law.
But again. These ecstasies, cures, and so forth, brought them rapidly
back to the old priestcrafts. The Egyptian priests, the Babylonian and
Jewish sorcerers, had practised all this as a trade for ages, and
reduced it to an art. It was by sleeping in the temples of the deities,
after due mesmeric manipulations, that cures were even then effected.
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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 Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: Catholic woman can become a visitor of the sick on purely
coquettish principles, with her confessor and director, her
"merit" storing up, her patron saints, her privileged relation to
the Almighty, drawing his attention as a professional devote, her
definite "exercises," and her definitely recognized social pose
in the organization.
In most books on religion, three things are represented as its
most essential elements. These are Sacrifice, Confession, and
Prayer. I must say a word in turn of each of these elements,
though briefly. First of Sacrifice.
Sacrifices to gods are omnipresent in primeval worship; but, as
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