| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde: am afraid Margaret doesn't encourage you in that excellent habit.
It's a great mistake on her part. When men give up saying what is
charming, they give up thinking what is charming. But seriously,
what do you say to œ2000? œ2500, I think. In modern life margin
is everything. Windermere, don't you think the world an intensely
amusing place? I do!
[Exit on terrace with LORD WINDERMERE. Music strikes up in ball-
room.]
LADY WINDERMERE. To stay in this house any longer is impossible.
To-night a man who loves me offered me his whole life. I refused
it. It was foolish of me. I will offer him mine now. I will give
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. Wells: of the flying machine gliding slowly and noiselessly
overhead athwart the broad band of snow-flecked grey-blue
sky. In a moment it was hidden again.
"Keep still; they were just turning."
For awhile both were motionless, then Graham's
companion stood up, and reaching towards the fastenings
of the cable fumbled with some indistinct tackle.
"What is that? " asked Graham.
The only answer was a faint cry. The man crouched
motionless. Graham peered and saw his face dimly.
He was staring down the long ribbon of sky, and
When the Sleeper Wakes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: are chicken-hearted enough already; only tell them what has happened,
and in sheer despondency they will not do another stroke of work."
"Besides," said Lieutenant Procope, who took very much the same view
as the orderly, "they are so miserably ignorant they would be sure
to misunderstand you."
"Understand or misunderstand," replied Servadac, "I do not think
it matters. They would not care. They are all fatalists.
Only give them a guitar and their castanets, and they will soon
forget all care and anxiety. For my own part, I must adhere
to my belief that it will be advisable to tell them everything.
Have you any opinion to offer, count?"
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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 Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: "Whatever temptations he has yielded to," said Mrs. Weguelin, "his filial
piety has stood proof."
"He refused," added Mrs. Gregory, "when George (and I have never
understood how George could be so forgetful of their mother) wrote twice,
offering him a lucrative and rising position in the railroad company at
Roanoke."
"That was hard!" I exclaimed.
She totally misapplied my sympathy. "Oh, Anna Mayrant," she corrected
herself, "John's mother, Mrs. Hector Mayrant, had harder things than
forgetful sons to bear! I've not laid eyes on those boys since the
funeral."
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