| 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: he was a reporter, and more recently had renewed the acquaintance
in his walks across the bridge.
"I didn't know you were there, McCarthy," he said.
"No?" said the officer. "And who were ye jabbin' at, thin?"
"I was just limbering up my wrist," said Cleggett.
"'Tis a quare thing to do," persisted McCarthy, albeit
good-humoredly. "And now I mind I've seen ye do the same before,
Mr. Cleggett. You're foriver grinnin' to yersilf an' makin' thim
funny jabs at nothin' as ye cross the bridge. Are ye subjict to
stiffness in the wrists, Mr. Cleggett?"
"Perhaps it's writer's cramp," said Cleggett, indulging the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: discomfort. Also she began to remember that she was a waif of the
storm, adrift upon a treacherous and unknown sea.
"Kut-kut-kut, ka-daw-w-w--kut!"
"What's that?" cried Dorothy, starting to her feet.
"Why, I've just laid an egg, that's all," replied a small, but sharp
and distinct voice, and looking around her the little girl discovered
a yellow hen squatting in the opposite corner of the coop.
"Dear me!" she exclaimed, in surprise; "have YOU been here all
night, too?"
"Of course," answered the hen, fluttering her wings and yawning.
"When the coop blew away from the ship I clung fast to this corner,
Ozma of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: to our previous argument, which inclines me to believe that in general
those who do wrong involuntarily are worse than those who do wrong
voluntarily, and therefore I hope that you will be good to me, and not
refuse to heal me; for you will do me a much greater benefit if you cure my
soul of ignorance, than you would if you were to cure my body of disease.
I must, however, tell you beforehand, that if you make a long oration to me
you will not cure me, for I shall not be able to follow you; but if you
will answer me, as you did just now, you will do me a great deal of good,
and I do not think that you will be any the worse yourself. And I have
some claim upon you also, O son of Apemantus, for you incited me to
converse with Hippias; and now, if Hippias will not answer me, you must
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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 Kenilworth by Walter Scott: and he smiled at the simplicity which dictated the questions she
put to him concerning the various ornaments with which he was
decorated.
"The embroidered strap, as thou callest it, around my knee," he
said, "is the English Garter, an ornament which kings are proud
to wear. See, here is the star which belongs to it, and here the
Diamond George, the jewel of the order. You have heard how King
Edward and the Countess of Salisbury--"
"Oh, I know all that tale," said the Countess, slightly blushing,
"and how a lady's garter became the proudest badge of English
chivalry."
Kenilworth |
