| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: "Oh, quick; tell me quickly, father."
"As soon as I have closed my eyes," Don Juan went on, "and that
may be in a few minutes, you must take my body before it grows
cold and lay it on a table in this room. Then put out the lamp;
the light of the stars should be sufficient. Take off my clothes,
reciting Aves and Paters the while, raising your soul to God in
prayer, and carefully anoint my lips and eyes with this holy
water; begin with the face, and proceed successively to my limbs
and the rest of my body; my dear son, the power of God is so
great that you must be astonished at nothing."
Don Juan felt death so near, that he added in a terrible voice,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: than my shoe; if she is not the soul of this plot it is not for want
of will. But we shall now be able to test her on the scene itself, and
find out then how she stands by us. Up to this time, however, I am
certain she has held no communication whatever with the heretics."
"Well, it is time now to reveal the whole plot to the king, and to the
queen-mother, who, you say, knows nothing of it,--that is the sole
proof of her innocence; perhaps the conspirators have waited till the
last moment, expecting to dazzle her with the probabilities of
success. La Renaudie must soon discover by my arrangements that we are
warned. Last night Nemours was to follow detachments of the Reformers
who are pouring in along the cross-roads, and the conspirators will be
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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 Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: road. Meantime the fire went out and the frost crept into the bones
of the waiting children."
"Poor things!" murmured the Queen softly. "What did you do?"
"I called Nelko, bidding him fetch wood from my forests and breathe
upon it until the fire blazed again and warmed the little room where
the children lay. Then they ceased shivering and fell asleep until
their parents came."
"I am glad you did thus," said the good Queen, beaming upon the
Master; and Necile, who had eagerly listened to every word, echoed in
a whisper: "I, too, am glad!"
"And this very night," continued Ak, "as I came to the edge of Burzee I
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
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 Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: convictions; and the man or woman who attempts to adapt their life to the
new material conditions and to harmony with the new knowledge, is almost
bound at some time to rupture the continuity of their own psychological
existence.
It is these conditions which give rise to the fact so often noticed, that
the art of our age tends persistently to deal with subtle social problems,
religious, political, and sexual, to which the art of the past holds no
parallel; and it is so inevitably, because the artist who would obey the
artistic instinct to portray faithfully the world about him, must portray
that which lies at the core of its life. The "problem" play, novel, and
poem are as inevitable in this age, as it was inevitable that the artist of
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