| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: body elected to adjudicate on such points as these consists of males
solely, or females solely, or of both combined. As it consists of one, or
the other, or of both, so not only will the answers vary, but, in some
cases, will they be completely diverse. Here we come into that very
narrow, but important, region, where sex as sex manifestly plays its part;
where the male as male and the female as female have each their body of
perceptions and experiences, which they do not hold in common; here one sex
cannot adequately represent the other. It is here that each sexual part
has something radically distinct to contribute to the wisdom of the race.
We, today, take all labour for our province! We seek to enter the non-
sexual fields of intellectual or physical toil, because we are unable to
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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 Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: This queer man was engaged in snapping slippery pumpkin-seeds with his
wooden fingers, trying to hit a target on the other side of the room
with them. He did not know he had visitors until Dorothy exclaimed:
"Why, it's Jack Pumpkinhead himself!"
He turned and saw them, and at once came forward to greet the little
Kansas girl and Nick Chopper, and to be introduced to their new friends.
Button-Bright was at first rather shy with the quaint Pumpkinhead, but
Jack's face was so jolly and smiling--being carved that way--that the
boy soon grew to like him.
"I thought a while ago that you were buried in three parts," said
Dorothy, "but now I see you're just the same as ever."
The Road to Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: sensibility, drove her into action; more than that, as she
realized how much less there was to regret in the boy's life than
in his father's, how much more he had got out of his few short
years, the edge of the older, more precious sorrow, dulled.
During quite long periods she would be so absorbed in her
thoughts of Martin that Bill would not enter her mind. Was it
possible, that this husband who with his own lips had confessed
he had never loved her, had been a more integral part of herself
than the son who had adored her? What was this bond that had
roots deeper than love? Was it merely because they had grown so
used to each other that she felt as if half of her had been torn
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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 On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with
reverence and humanity; but they who behold where it comes
trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins
once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its
fountainhead.
No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America.
They are rare in the history of the world. There are orators,
politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the
speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is
capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day.
We love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |
