| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "There must have been something wrong with monsieur's
pistol," he said. "Or monsieur is unstrung. Take mine,
monsieur, and try again," and Tarzan offered his pistol, butt
foremost, to the astonished De Coude.
"MON DIEU, monsieur!" cried the latter. "Are you mad?"
"No, my friend," replied the ape-man; "but I deserve to die.
It is the only way in which I may atone for the wrong I have
done a very good woman. Take my pistol and do as I bid."
"It would be murder," replied De Coude. "But what wrong
did you do my wife? She swore to me that--"
"I do not mean that," said Tarzan quickly. "You saw all
The Return of Tarzan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: he in the eyes of the tribe. The first wife, however, takes rank
of all the others, and is considered mistress of the house. Still
the domestic establishment is liable to jealousies and cabals,
and the lord and master has much difficulty in maintaining
harmony in his jangling household.
In the manuscript from which we draw many of these particulars,
it is stated that he who exceeds his neighbors in the number of
his wives, male children, and slaves, is elected chief of the
village; a title to office which we do not recollect ever before
to have met with.
Feuds are frequent among, these tribes, but are not very deadly.
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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 Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: I never saw her again.
Years afterwards I heard she had married and gone to America; it may or may
not be so--but the rose--the rose is in the box still! When my faith in
woman grows dim, and it seems that for want of love and magnanimity she can
play no part in any future heaven; then the scent of that small withered
thing comes back:--spring cannot fail us.
Matjesfontein,
South Africa.
III. "THE POLICY IN FAVOUR OF PROTECTION--".
Was it Right?--Was it Wrong?
A woman sat at her desk in the corner of a room; behind her a fire burnt
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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 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: stepped from the carriage, she found herself soothed beyond
anything that she had believed possible. So surrounded,
so caressed, she was even happy! In the joyfulness
of family love everything for a short time was subdued,
and the pleasure of seeing her, leaving them at first
little leisure for calm curiosity, they were all seated
round the tea-table, which Mrs. Morland had hurried
for the comfort of the poor traveller, whose pale and
jaded looks soon caught her notice, before any inquiry
so direct as to demand a positive answer was addressed to her.
Reluctantly, and with much hesitation, did she then
Northanger Abbey |
