| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Riverman by Stewart Edward White: water, had piled in on top. Immediately a jam formed, increasing in
weight each moment, until practically the entire third section had
piled up back of the bridge.
The papers occupied themselves with the picturesque side of the
affair. None expressed any anxiety as to the bridge. It was a new
structure, each of whose bents weighed over a hundred tons. A fall
of a few inches only would suffice to lock the jam solidly, thus
relieving whatever pressure the mass exerted against the iron
bridge. That the water would shortly go down was of course
inevitable at this time of year. It would be a big jam for the
rivermen to break, however.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore by Charles Kingsley: pleasantness to the senses, but spiritually, by the amount of
Divine thought revealed to Man therein; holding every phenomenon
worth the noting down; believing that every pebble holds a
treasure, every bud a revelation; making it a point of conscience
to pass over nothing through laziness or hastiness, lest the vision
once offered and despised should be withdrawn; and looking at every
object as if he were never to behold it again.
Moreover, he must keep himself free from all those perturbations of
mind which not only weaken energy, but darken and confuse the
inductive faculty; from haste and laziness, from melancholy,
testiness, pride, and all the passions which make men see only what
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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 Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: undertake greater schemes, he devoted himself with pious cruelty to
driving out and clearing his kingdom of the Moors; nor could there be
a more admirable example, nor one more rare. Under this same cloak he
assailed Africa, he came down on Italy, he has finally attacked
France; and thus his achievements and designs have always been great,
and have kept the minds of his people in suspense and admiration and
occupied with the issue of them. And his actions have arisen in such a
way, one out of the other, that men have never been given time to work
steadily against him.
Again, it much assists a prince to set unusual examples in internal
affairs, similar to those which are related of Messer Bernabo da
The Prince |
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 Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: general good time for every one.
It was Ozma's custom on her birthday to give a grand feast at the
palace, to which all her closest friends were invited. It was a
queerly assorted company, indeed, for there are more quaint and unusual
characters in Oz than in all the rest of the world, and Ozma was more
interested in unusual people than in ordinary ones--just as you and I are.
On this especial birthday of the lovely girl Ruler, a long table was
set in the royal Banquet Hall of the palace, at which were place-cards
for the invited guests, and at one end of the great room was a smaller
table, not so high, for Ozma's animal friends, whom she never forgot,
and at the other end was a big table where all of the birthday gifts
The Magic of Oz |
