| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: how it should have produced the effect that it did. The dogma of
the resurrection has, until recent times, been so rarely treated
from the historical point of view, that the student of history at
first finds some difficulty in thoroughly realizing its import to
the minds of those who first proclaimed it. We cannot hope to
understand it without bearing in mind the theories of the Jews
and early Christians concerning the structure of the world and
the cosmic location of departed souls. Since the time of
Copernicus modern Christians no longer attempt to locate heaven
and hell; they are conceived merely as mysterious places remote
from the earth. The theological universe no longer corresponds to
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: dead to their loneliness. The traveller, at length reached the
fir-tree, which from the middle upward was covered with living
branches, although a scaffold had been erected beneath, and other
preparations made for the work of death. Under this unhappy tree,
which in after times was believed to drop poison with its dew,
sat the one solitary mourner for innocent blood. It was a slender
and light clad little boy, who leaned his face upon a hillock of
fresh-turned and half-frozen earth, and wailed bitterly, yet in a
suppressed tone, as if his grief might receive the punishment of
crime. The Puritan, whose approach had been unperceived, laid his
hand upon the child's shoulder, and addressed him
Twice Told Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: their cheeks. Of course our fine sentiments were all sham, they said. Of
course we intended to swallow Cuba, and never had intended anything else.
And when General Leonard Wood came away from Cuba, having made Havana
healthy, having brought order out of chaos on the island, and we left
Cuba independent, Europe jeered on. That dear old Europe!
Again, in 1909, it was not any European nation that returned to China
their share of the indemnity exacted in consequence of the Boxer
troubles; we alone returned our share to China--sixteen millions. It was
we who prevented levying a punitive indemnity on China. Read the whole
story; there is much more. We played the gentleman, Europe played the
bully. But Europe calls us "dollar chasers." That dear old Europe! Again,
|
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 Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: loose between his knees. I was watching Alison; from where I stood,
behind her, I could almost touch the soft hair behind her ear.
"I have no intention of pressing any charge against you," I said
with forced civility, for my hands were itching to get at him, "if
you will give us a clear account of what happened on the Ontario
that night."
Sullivan raised his handsome, haggard head and looked around at me.
"I've seen you before, haven't I?" he asked. "Weren't you an
uninvited guest at the Laurels a few days - or nights - ago? The
cat, you remember, and the rug that slipped?"
"I remember," I said shortly. He glanced from me to Alison and
The Man in Lower Ten |
