| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: and, replying to your question by another, I should venture to
assert, that if these worlds are habitable, they either are,
have been, or will be inhabited."
"No one could answer more logically or fairly," replied the
president. "The question then reverts to this: Are these
worlds habitable? For my own part I believe they are."
"For myself, I feel certain of it," said Michel Ardan.
"Nevertheless," retorted one of the audience, "there are many
arguments against the habitability of the worlds. The conditions
of life must evidently be greatly modified upon the majority
of them. To mention only the planets, we should be either
From the Earth to the Moon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: fired by an electric spark.
But to return to Cyrus and his Persians.
I know not whether the "Cyropaedia" is much read in your schools and
universities. But it is one of the books which I should like to
see, either in a translation or its own exquisite Greek, in the
hands of every young man. It is not all fact. It is but a historic
romance. But it is better than history. It is an ideal book, like
Sidney's "Arcadia" or Spenser's "Fairy Queen"--the ideal self-
education of an ideal hero. And the moral of the book--ponder it
well, all young men who have the chance or the hope of exercising
authority among your follow-men--the noble and most Christian moral
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