| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: stage. Many plays, among them Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth, Coriolanus,
Julius Caesar, have no sex complications: the thread of their
action can be followed by children who could not understand a
single scene of Mrs Warren's Profession or Iris. None of our
plays rouse the sympathy of the audience by an exhibition of the
pains of maternity, as Chinese plays constantly do. Each nation
has its own particular set of tapus in addition to the common
human stock; and though each of these tapus limits the scope of
the dramatist, it does not make drama impossible. If the
Examiner were to refuse to license plays with female characters
in them, he would only be doing to the stage what our tribal
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: "'I don't mean to say we're perfect. We've got a lot to do in the way of
extending the paving of motor boulevards, for, believe me, it's the fellow
with four to ten thousand a year, say, and an automobile and a nice little
family in a bungalow on the edge of town, that makes the wheels of progress go
round!
"'That's the type of fellow that's ruling America to-day; in fact, it's the
ideal type to which the entire world must tend, if there's to be a decent,
well-balanced, Christian, go-ahead future for this little old planet! Once in
a while I just naturally sit back and size up this Solid American Citizen,
with a whale of a lot of satisfaction.
"'Our Ideal Citizen--I picture him first and foremost as being busier than a
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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 Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: francs a year in the funds. He had received an education gratis in a
Seminary, but had refused to enter the priesthood. He felt in himself
the fires of immense ambition, and had come to Paris on foot at the
age of twenty, the possessor of two hundred francs. He had studied the
law, working in an attorney's office, where he had risen to be
superior clerk. He had taken his doctor's degree in law, had mastered
the old and modern codes, and could hold his own with the most famous
pleaders. He had studied the law of nations, and was familiar with
European treaties and international practice. He had studied men and
things in five capitals--London, Berlin, Vienna, Petersburg, and
Constantinople.
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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 Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: toe, looking over the top of his gold spectacles, and nodding his
head with every mark of disbelief. Markheim returned his gaze with
one of infinite pity, and a touch of horror.
'This time,' said he, 'you are in error. I have not come to sell,
but to buy. I have no curios to dispose of; my uncle's cabinet is
bare to the wainscot; even were it still intact, I have done well
on the Stock Exchange, and should more likely add to it than
otherwise, and my errand to-day is simplicity itself. I seek a
Christmas present for a lady,' he continued, waxing more fluent as
he struck into the speech he had prepared; 'and certainly I owe you
every excuse for thus disturbing you upon so small a matter. But
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