| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: only said she could show her blooming heels to anything afloat.
And besides, I don't know that it's dry rot; I kind of sometimes
hope it isn't. Here; turn to and heave the log; that'll cheer you
up."
"Well, there's no denying it, you're a holy captain," said Mac.
And from that day on, he made but the one reference to the
ship's condition; and that was whenever Tommy drew upon his
cellar. "Here's to the junk trade!" he would say, as he held out
his can of sherry.
"Why do you always say that?" asked Tommy.
"I had an uncle in the business," replied Mac, and launched at
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: favour" of his royal highness, even if halved, would more than
counterbalance the whole value of the commoner's "donation."[11]
[11] Or, "half the great man's 'bounty' more than outweighs the small
man's present." For {dorema} cf. Aristot. "N. E." I. ix. 2,
"happiness . . . a free gift of God to men."
Nay, as it seems to me, an honour from the gods, a grace divine, is
shed about the path of him the hero-ruler.[12] Not only does command
itself ennoble manhood, but we gaze on him with other eyes and find
the fair within him yet more fair who is to-day a prince and was but
yesterday a private citizen.[13] Again, it is a prouder satisfaction
doubtless to hold debate with those who are preferred to us in honour
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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 Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: Francis, seeing that the pieces of bread begged by Brother Maximus
were bigger and better than his own, rejoiced greatly, saying, 'Oh,
Brother Maximus, we are not worthy of so great a treasure.' As he
repeated these words many times, Brother Maximus made answer:
'Father, how can you talk of treasures when there is such great
poverty and such lack of all things needful? Here is neither napkin
nor knife, neither board nor trencher, neither house nor table,
neither man-servant nor maid-servant.' St. Francis replied: 'And
this is what I reckon a great treasure, where naught is made ready
by human industry, but all that is here is prepared by Divine
Providence, as is plainly set forth in the bread which we have
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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 The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: because Tabaqui, more than anyone else in the jungle, is apt to go
mad, and then he forgets that he was ever afraid of anyone, and
runs through the forest biting everything in his way. Even the
tiger runs and hides when little Tabaqui goes mad, for madness is
the most disgraceful thing that can overtake a wild creature. We
call it hydrophobia, but they call it dewanee--the madness--
and run.
"Enter, then, and look," said Father Wolf stiffly, "but there
is no food here."
"For a wolf, no," said Tabaqui, "but for so mean a person as
myself a dry bone is a good feast. Who are we, the Gidur-log [the
The Jungle Book |
