| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hermione's Little Group of Serious Thinkers by Don Marquis: cinated.
This embarrassed Fothy, but he though his mis-
take had been in talking about anything artistic,
like a play, so he changed the subject again. He
told me afterward that he felt if he could get onto
a really PRACTICAL subject all would go well.
So he asked Aunt Evelyn what she thought about Genetics.
"What are they?" asked Aunt Evelyn, her teeth chattering.
"Why, Eugenics," said Fothy. And then he had
to explain all about Eugenics.
They sat perfectly still and stared at him, and he
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Across The Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson: ENGLISH). Robert-Louis-Stev'ns'n.
THE COMMISSARY (AGHAST). HE! QUOI?
THE ARETHUSA (PERCEIVING AND IMPROVING HIS ADVANTAGE). Rob'rt-
Lou's-Stev'ns'n.
THE COMMISSARY (AFTER SEVERAL CONFLICTS WITH HIS PEN). EH BIEN, IL
FAUT SE PASSER DU NOM. CA NE S'ECRIT PAS. (Well, we must do
without the name: it is unspellable.)
The above is a rough summary of this momentous conversation, in
which I have been chiefly careful to preserve the plums of the
Commissary; but the remainder of the scene, perhaps because of his
rising anger, has left but little definite in the memory of the
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: behave with propriety, and respect whatever contributes to the
enjoyments in which they themselves participate. In England,
where wealth has a monopoly of amusement as well as of power,
complaints are made that whenever the poor happen to steal into
the enclosures which are reserved for the pleasures of the rich,
they commit acts of wanton mischief: can this be wondered at,
since care has been taken that they should have nothing to lose?
*b
[Footnote b: [This, too, has been amended by much larger
provisions for the amusements of the people in public parks,
gardens, museums, etc.; and the conduct of the people in these
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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: "What you have swallowed cannot injure you, for the antidote has
been taken before it, and I hastened hither to tell you that the
means of escape are open to you."
"Escape!" exclaimed the lady, as she raised herself hastily in
her chair, while light returned to her eye and life to her cheek;
"but ah! Janet, it comes too late."
"Not so, dearest lady. Rise, take mine arm, walk through the
apartment; let not fancy do the work of poison! So; feel you not
now that you are possessed of the full use of your limbs?"
"The torpor seems to diminish," said the Countess, as, supported
by Janet, she walked to and fro in the apartment; "but is it then
Kenilworth |
