| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the ape-man he saw him dart like a squirrel for the opposite
side of the cabin.
The Englishman sprang quickly after him just in time to
see the hind quarters of some huge animal about to disappear
through the window of the cabin.
As Jane opened her eyes to a realization of the imminent
peril which threatened her, her brave young heart gave up at
last its final vestige of hope. But then to her surprise she saw
the huge animal being slowly drawn back through the window,
and in the moonlight beyond she saw the heads and
shoulders of two men.
Tarzan of the Apes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ann Veronica by H. G. Wells: "Then we go on to this place, the Oeschinensee. It's a lake
among precipices, and there is a little inn where we can stay,
and sit and eat our dinner at a pleasant table that looks upon
the lake. For some days we shall be very idle there among the
trees and rocks. There are boats on the lake and shady depths
and wildernesses of pine-wood. After a day or so, perhaps, we
will go on one or two little excursions and see how good your
head is--a mild scramble or so; and then up to a hut on a pass
just here, and out upon the Blumlis-alp glacier that spreads out
so and so."
She roused herself from some dream at the word. "Glaciers?" she
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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 God The Invisible King by H. G. Wells: Trinity of the Arian, any more than one thinks of those theories
made stone, those gods with three heads and seven hands, who sit on
lotus leaves and flourish lingams and what not, in the temples of
India. Let us leave, therefore, these morbid elaborations of the
human intelligence to drift to limbo, and come rather to the natural
heresies that spring from fundamental weaknesses of the human
character, and which are common to all religions. Against these it
is necessary to keep constant watch. They return very insidiously.
3. GOD IS NOT MAGIC
One of the most universal of these natural misconceptions of God is
to consider him as something magic serving the ends of men.
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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 Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: system to me, and, indeed, it required some dwelling on, for he was the
picture of admirable preservation. "But I know what it is myself," he
declared, "to be a lover and have bliss delayed. They shall be united
now. A soldier must face all arrows. What!"
I had hoped he might quote something here, but was disappointed. His
conversation would soon cease to interest me, should I lose the ex-
citement of watching for the next classic; and my eye wandered from the
General to the water, where, happily, I saw John Mayrant coming in the
launch. I briskly called the General's attention to him, and was
delighted with the unexpected result.
"'Oh, young Lochinvar has come out of the West,'" said the General,
lifting his glass.
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