| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: passed in. The stone which was used in the work they quarried from
underneath the centre island, and from underneath the zones, on the outer
as well as the inner side. One kind was white, another black, and a third
red, and as they quarried, they at the same time hollowed out double docks,
having roofs formed out of the native rock. Some of their buildings were
simple, but in others they put together different stones, varying the
colour to please the eye, and to be a natural source of delight. The
entire circuit of the wall, which went round the outermost zone, they
covered with a coating of brass, and the circuit of the next wall they
coated with tin, and the third, which encompassed the citadel, flashed with
the red light of orichalcum. The palaces in the interior of the citadel
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: The two remaining Indians had only time to draw their weapons before this
lithe, threatening form whirled upon them. Shrill cries, hoarse yells, the
clash of steel and dull blows mingled together. One savage went down, twisted
over, writhed and lay still. The other staggered, warded of lightninglike
blows until one passed under his guard, and crashed dully on his head. Then he
reeled, rose again, but only to have his skull cloven by a bloody tomahawk.
The victor darted toward the whirling mass.
"Lew, shake him loose! Let him go!" yelled Jonathan Zane, swinging his bloody
weapon.
High above Zane's cry, Deering's shouts and curses, Girty's shrieks of fear
and fury, above the noise of wrestling bodies and dull blows, rose a deep
The Spirit of the Border |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: joy, love, friendship, and concord in their houses; thus the children
could captivate their parents' hearts. On the other hand, when they are
obstinate, and will not do what they ought until a rod is laid upon
their back, they anger both God and their parents, whereby they deprive
themselves of this treasure and joy of conscience and lay up for
themselves only misfortune. Therefore, as every one complains, the
course of the world now is such that both young and old are altogether
dissolute and beyond control, have no reverence nor sense of honor, do
nothing except as they are driven to it by blows, and perpetrate what
wrong and detraction they can behind each other's back; therefore God
also punishes them, that they sink into all kinds of filth and misery.
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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 The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: kind, does not possess so much accommodation as the extent of the
outward walls appears to promise. But we can give you a
comfortable old-fashioned room, and I venture to suppose that
your campaigns have taught you to be glad of worse quarters."
The General shrugged his shoulders, and laughed. "I presume," he
said, "the worst apartment in your chateau is considerably
superior to the old tobacco-cask in which I was fain to take up
my night's lodging when I was in the Bush, as the Virginians call
it, with the light corps. There I lay, like Diogenes himself, so
delighted with my covering from the elements, that I made a vain
attempt to have it rolled on to my next quarters; but my
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