| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: his face in such a way that his eyes were hidden from
the ape-man, though one of them was fastened upon him
from beneath the shadow of the Belgian's forearm.
For a time he lay thus, glowering at Tarzan, and
originating schemes for plundering him of his treasure--
schemes that were discarded as futile as rapidly as
they were born.
Tarzan presently let his own eyes rest upon Werper.
The Belgian saw that he was being watched, and lay very
still. After a few moments he simulated the regular
breathing of deep slumber.
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: fireplace, which is soon filled with a blaze of comfort. There is
also a random library of novels, which former fishermen have
thoughtfully left behind them. I like strong reading in the
wilderness. Give me a story with plenty of danger and wholesome
fighting in it,--"The Three Musketeers," or "Treasure Island," or
"The Afghan's Knife." Intricate studies of social dilemmas and
tales of mild philandering seem bloodless and insipid.
The trout in the Tarn of the Elk are large, undoubtedly, but they
are also few in number and shy in disposition. Either some of the
peasants have been fishing over them with the deadly "otter," or
else they belong to that variety of the trout family known as TRUTTA
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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 A Treatise on Parents and Children by George Bernard Shaw: him or hang him at the bidding of his oppressors and their own. The
crux of the whole difficulty about parents, schoolmasters, priests,
absolute monarchs, and despots of every sort, is the tendency to abuse
natural docility. A nation should always be healthily rebellious; but
the king or prime minister has yet to be found who will make trouble
by cultivating that side of the national spirit. A child should begin
to assert itself early, and shift for itself more and more not only in
washing and dressing itself, but in opinions and conduct; yet as
nothing is so exasperating and so unlovable as an uppish child, it is
useless to expect parents and schoolmasters to inculcate this
uppishness. Such unamiable precepts as Always contradict an
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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 De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: you personally have long ago forgotten, or can easily forget, is
happening to me now, and will happen to me again to-morrow.
Remember this, and you will be able to understand a little of why I
am writing, and in this manner writing. . . .
A week later, I am transferred here. Three more months go over and
my mother dies. No one knew how deeply I loved and honoured her.
Her death was terrible to me; but I, once a lord of language, have
no words in which to express my anguish and my shame. She and my
father had bequeathed me a name they had made noble and honoured,
not merely in literature, art, archaeology, and science, but in the
public history of my own country, in its evolution as a nation. I
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