| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: Giuseppe Jones." The verse was written in the manner of Walt
Whitman. A glance at one of the sprawling poems showed Cleggett
that in sentiment it was of the most violent and incendiary
character.
"Why, he is an anarchist!" said Cleggett in surprise.
"Oh, really!" Lady Agatha looked up from her work of mercy and
spoke with animation, and then gazed upon the youth's face again
with a new interest. "An anarchist! How interesting! I have
ALWAYS wanted to meet an anarchist."
"Poor boy, he don't look like nothin' bad," said Cap'n Abernethy,
who seemed to have taken a fancy to Giuseppe Jones.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Horse's Tale by Mark Twain: for half an hour; and finally, when she blew the "charge," she led
it herself. "Not for the last time," she said, and got a cheer,
and we said good-bye all around, and faced eastward and rode away.
POSTSCRIPT. A DAY LATER. Soldier Boy was stolen last night.
Cathy is almost beside herself, and we cannot comfort her.
Mercedes and I are not much alarmed about the horse, although this
part of Spain is in something of a turmoil, politically, at
present, and there is a good deal of lawlessness. In ordinary
times the thief and the horse would soon be captured. We shall
have them before long, I think.
CHAPTER XIV - SOLDIER BOY - TO HIMSELF
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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 A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: the quay unobserved. Expanding with a sense of relief, Elfride
waited whilst Knight looked to their luggage, and then saw her
father approaching through the crowd, twirling his walking-stick
to catch their attention. Elbowing their way to him they all
entered the town, which smiled as sunny a smile upon Elfride as it
had done between one and two years earlier, when she had entered
it at precisely the same hour as the bride-elect of Stephen Smith.
Chapter XXX
'Vassal unto Love.'
Elfride clung closer to Knight as day succeeded day. Whatever
else might admit of question, there could be no dispute that the
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
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 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: was my only chance--barring, of course, the killing him there
and then, which wasn't so good, on account of unavoidable noise.
But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked
within itself, and, by heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad.
I had--for my sins, I suppose--to go through the ordeal of looking
into it myself. No eloquence could have been so withering
to one's belief in mankind as his final burst of sincerity.
He struggled with himself, too. I saw it--I heard it.
I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint,
no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself.
I kept my head pretty well; but when I had him at last stretched
Heart of Darkness |
