| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Treatise on Parents and Children by George Bernard Shaw: do something to frighten these bad things away. And this Englishman,
without the moral courage of a louse, will risk his neck for fun fifty
times every winter in the hunting field, and at Badajos sieges and the
like will ram his head into a hole bristling with sword blades rather
than be beaten in the one department in which he has been brought up
to consult his own honor. As a Sportsman (and war is fundamentally
the sport of hunting and fighting the most dangerous of the beasts of
prey) he feels free. He will tell you himself that the true sportsman
is never a snob, a coward, a duffer, a cheat, a thief, or a liar.
Curious, is it not, that he has not the same confidence in other sorts
of man?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Juana by Honore de Balzac: trees with high and gloomy walls on either side of it. When they
reached this spot he coolly invited the marquis to precede him; but as
if the latter understood him he preferred to keep at his side. Then,
no sooner were they fairly in the avenue, then Diard, with the agility
of a tiger, tripped up the marquis with a kick behind the knees, and
putting a foot on his neck stabbed him again and again to the heart
till the blade of the knife broke in it. Then he searched Montefiore's
pockets, took his wallet, money, everything. But though he had taken
the Italian unawares, and had done the deed with lucid mind and the
quickness of a pickpocket, Montefiore had time to cry "Murder! Help!"
in a shrill and piercing voice which was fit to rouse every sleeper in
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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 Ursula by Honore de Balzac: post house, and something is being engineered."
The notary, conducted by Ursula, came to the lower end of the garden.
After the usual greetings and a few insignificant remarks, Dionis
asked for a private interview; Ursula and Bongrand retired to the
salon.
The distrust which superior men excite in men of business is very
remarkable. The latter deny them the "lesser" powers while recognizing
their possession of the "higher." It is, perhaps, a tribute to them.
Seeing them always on the higher plane of human things, men of
business believe them incapable of descending to the infinitely petty
details which (like the dividends of finance and the microscopic facts
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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 Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: as Taglat did not cause interference with his plans,
Tarzan was indifferent to his absence.
As he approached the hut, the ape-man noticed that a
crowd had collected about the entrance. He could see
that the men who composed it were much excited, and
fearing lest Chulk's disguise should prove inadequate
to the concealment of his true identity in the face of
so many observers, he commanded the ape to betake
himself to the far end of the village, and there await him.
As Chulk waddled off, keeping to the shadows, Tarzan
advanced boldly toward the excited group before the
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
