| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: the bee said. "I'm valuable to the world with my honey and wax, I
can fly anywhere I want, and I'm beautiful to behold. But you're
just an ugly worm, not good for anything. While I soar from bloom
to bloom feasting on nectar, all you can do is creep around and
chew on a stem."
"What you say may be true," replied the caterpillar, "but my
Maker must have put me here for some purpose, so I trust him
for my future."
"You have no future," said the bee. "You'll be crawling through the
dirt for the rest of your life. If you ask me, you'd be better off
choking on a leaf."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: of the engine employed.
As to the _second_ question, "What is the exact distance which
separates the earth from its satellite?"
_Answer._-- The moon does not describe a _circle_ round the
earth, but rather an _ellipse_, of which our earth occupies one
of the _foci_; the consequence, therefore, is, that at certain
times it approaches nearer to, and at others it recedes farther
from, the earth; in astronomical language, it is at one time in
_apogee_, at another in _perigee_. Now the difference between
its greatest and its least distance is too considerable to be
left out of consideration. In point of fact, in its apogee the
From the Earth to the Moon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: the change in Betty which his wife had spoken, he concluded that women were
better qualified to judge their own sex than were men. He had to confess to
himself that the only change he could see in his sister was that she grew
prettier every day of her life
"Oh, papa. I hit Sam right in the head with a big snow-ball, and I made Betty
run into the house, and I slid down to all by myself. Sam was afraid," said
Noah to his father.
"Noah, if Sammy saw the danger in sliding down the hill he was braver than
you. Now both of you run to Annie and have these wet things taken off."
"I must go get on dry clothes myself," said Betty. "I am nearly frozen. It is
growing colder. I saw Jack come in. Is he going to Fort Pitt?"
Betty Zane |
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 From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: have had a great deal of trouble to bury him? What am I saying?
to _etherize_ him, as here ether takes the place of earth.
You see the accusing body would have followed us into space like
a remorse."
"That would have been sad," said Nicholl.
"Ah!" continued Michel, "what I regret is not being able to take a
walk outside. What voluptuousness to float amid this radiant ether,
to bathe oneself in it, to wrap oneself in the sun's pure rays.
If Barbicane had only thought of furnishing us with a diving
apparatus and an air-pump, I could have ventured out and assumed
fanciful attitudes of feigned monsters on the top of the projectile."
From the Earth to the Moon |
