| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: one family. But in the Dakotas, the labor of one man will deliver
in Chicago enough flour to feed three hundred men a year. This
increase in man's power to produce wheat caused the world's
population to double itself since McCormack invented the reaper.
The Chinese and Hindu millions who would have starved to death,
have been fed, and that's why they're with us to-day. The natural
limit of population is starvation. The more bread the more
mouths, less bread, fewer people. Europe and the Orient reached
the starvation limit before America was settled. A bad crop meant
a famine, and a famine started a plague. This plague and famine
would sweep off a third of the population, and the rest could
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane: loudly, pounding the polished wood with their beer glasses. She
returned attired in less gown, and sang again. She received
another enthusiastic encore. She reappeared in still less gown and
danced. The deafening rumble of glasses and clapping of hands that
followed her exit indicated an overwhelming desire to have her come
on for the fourth time, but the curiosity of the audience was not
gratified.
Maggie was pale. From her eyes had been plucked all look of
self-reliance. She leaned with a dependent air toward her
companion. She was timid, as if fearing his anger or displeasure.
She seemed to beseech tenderness of him.
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: of manufactured goods, rubbishy cottons, beads, and brass-wire set into
the depths of darkness, and in return came a precious trickle of ivory.
"I had to wait in the station for ten days--an eternity.
I lived in a hut in the yard, but to be out of the chaos
I would sometimes get into the accountant's office.
It was built of horizontal planks, and so badly put together that,
as he bent over his high desk, he was barred from neck
to heels with narrow strips of sunlight. There was no need
to open the big shutter to see. It was hot there, too;
big flies buzzed fiendishly, and did not sting, but stabbed.
I sat generally on the floor, while, of faultless appearance
Heart of Darkness |
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 The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: less, I AM of the Jungle!"
In his excitement, as he remembered the fight on Waingunga bank,
he shouted the last words aloud, and a wild buffalo-cow among
the reeds sprang to her knees, snorting, "Man!"
"Uhh!" said Mysa the Wild Buffalo (Mowgli could hear him turn
in his wallow), "THAT is no man. It is only the hairless wolf
of the Seeonee Pack. On such nights runs he to and fro."
"Uhh!" said the cow, dropping her head again to graze,
"I thought it was Man."
"I say no. Oh, Mowgli, is it danger?" lowed Mysa.
"Oh, Mowgli, is it danger?" the boy called back mockingly.
The Second Jungle Book |
