| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: about the room, ploughing his hands through his hair, much as a
somnambulist might do who was having a bad dream. Then he seemed to
arrive at a definite purpose; and without a word he put on his hat
and passed quickly out of the house. His wife sat brooding, with a
drawn face, and did not seem to be aware that she was alone. Now
and then she murmured, "Lead us not into t . . . but--but--we are so
poor, so poor! . . . Lead us not into . . . Ah, who would be hurt by
it?--and no one would ever know . . . Lead us . . . " The voice
died out in mumblings. After a little she glanced up and muttered
in a half-frightened, half-glad way -
"He is gone! But, oh dear, he may be too late--too late . . . Maybe
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: But as I have failed either to discover myself, or to learn of any one
else, the nature of the best, I will exhibit to you, if you like, what I
have found to be the second best mode of enquiring into the cause.
I should very much like to hear, he replied.
Socrates proceeded:--I thought that as I had failed in the contemplation of
true existence, I ought to be careful that I did not lose the eye of my
soul; as people may injure their bodily eye by observing and gazing on the
sun during an eclipse, unless they take the precaution of only looking at
the image reflected in the water, or in some similar medium. So in my own
case, I was afraid that my soul might be blinded altogether if I looked at
things with my eyes or tried to apprehend them by the help of the senses.
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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 Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: Otomie, your vassals?'
'My lord,' Otomie answered, speaking humbly and with bowed head,
'may this distemper leave you, and may you live to reign over us
for many years! My lord, my husband Teule and I have won back the
most part of the people of the Otomie to our cause and standard.
An army of twenty thousand mountain men waits upon your word, and
when those are spent there are more to follow.'
'Well done, daughter of Montezuma, and you, white man,' gasped the
dying king. 'The gods were wise when they refused you both upon
the stone of sacrifice, and I was foolish when I would have slain
you, Teule. To you and all I say be of a steadfast heart, and if
Montezuma's Daughter |
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 Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: very good hand, and in arithmetic is able to do long division,
but showed no grasp of good method. When at his best he sticks
at a job well enough, but does it with no intelligence and does
not save himself in the least by thoughtful procedures. We were
interested to note that in a game which he said he had played a
great deal, namely checkers, he made the most foolish and
shortsighted moves. It is only fair to say that this boy varied
in his performance from time to time; his emotional condition
largely controlled his performance.
On the ``Aussage'' or Testimony Test he gave a functional account
upon free recital, with 15 details. On questioning he gave 13
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