| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger: perceptions,--so rapid indeed that they seem to the ordinary human
being, practically instantaneous, or intuitive. The qualities of
genius are not, therefore, qualities lacking in the common reservoir
of humanity, but rather the unimpeded release and direction of powers
latent in all of us. This process of course is not necessarily
conscious.
This view is substantiated by the opposite problem of feeble-
mindedness. Recent researches throw a new light on this problem and
the contrasting one of human genius. Mental defect and feeble-
mindedness are conceived essentially as retardation, arrest of
development, differing in degree so that the victim is either an
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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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: As the party slowly wended its way toward the colonel's cabin Jim and Nell
found themselves side by side. They had not exchanged a word since the evening
previous, when Jim had kissed her. Unable to look at each other now, and
finding speech difficult, they walked in embarrassed silence.
"Doesn't Joe look splendid in his hunting suit?" asked Jim, presently.
"I hadn't noticed. Yes; he looks well," replied Nell, carelessly. She was too
indifferent to be natural.
"Are you angry with him?"
"Certainly not."
Jim was always simple and frank in his relations with women. He had none of
his brother's fluency of speech, with neither confidence, boldness nor
The Spirit of the Border |
