| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: be hungry when we come back, and will do it justice!"
CHAPTER V SOME STRANGE PHENOMENA
MANY superstitious beliefs exist both in the Highlands and Lowlands
of Scotland. Of course the mining population must furnish its
contingent of legends and fables to this mythological repertory.
If the fields are peopled with imaginary beings, either good
or bad, with much more reason must the dark mines be haunted
to their lowest depths. Who shakes the seam during tempestuous
nights? who puts the miners on the track of an as yet unworked
vein? who lights the fire-damp, and presides over the terrible
explosions? who but some spirit of the mine? This, at least,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: the gilded domes and crosses of its thirty churches
and convents glittering in the sun, the whole pic-
ture beckoning to the delirious brain of the traveler
like some mirage of the desert, his appearance was
the signal for a salute from the fort; and the Gov-
ernor-General, privy counselor and senator de
Pestel, accompanied by the civil governor, the com-
mandant, the archbishop, and a military escort, sal-
lied forth and led the guest, with the formality of
officials and the compassionate tenderness of men,
into the capital.
Rezanov |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: anything, but after all day in the house with the shutters closed
on account of reporters, the air was glorious. It was February,
but quite mild and sunny, and we could look down over Riverside
Drive and the Hudson, and even recognize people we knew on
horseback and in cars. It was a pathetic joy, and we lined up
along the parapet and watched the motor boats racing on the
river, and tried to feel that we were in the world as well as of
it, but it was very hard.
Betty had been making tea for Aunt Selina, and of course when
she heard us up there, she followed, tray and all, and we drank
Aunt Selina's tea and had the first really nice time of the day.
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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 Blue Flower by Henry van Dyke: hearers rent it new interest, and the wit of the improviser
drew forth sighs of interest and shouts of laughter.
A yellow-haired girl on the edge of the throng turned, as
Hermas passed, and smiled in his face. She put out her hand
and caught him by the sleeve.
"Stay," she said, "and laugh a bit with us. I know who
you are--the son of Demetrius. You must have bags of gold.
Why do you look so black? Love is alive yet."
Hermas shook off her hand, but not ungently.
"I don't know what you mean," he said. "You are mistaken
in me. I am poorer than you are."
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