| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: So much for the saddle-horses. The pack-animals
were four.
A study of Dinkey's character and an experience
of her characteristics always left me with mingled
feelings. At times I was inclined to think her
perfection: at other times thirty cents would have been
esteemed by me as a liberal offer for her. To enumerate
her good points: she was an excellent weight-
carrier; took good care of her pack that it never
scraped nor bumped; knew all about trails, the
possibilities of short cuts, the best way of easing herself
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: *a It is in vain that ambition or anger puts arms in the hands of
princes; they are appeased in spite of themselves by a species of
general apathy and goodwill, which makes the sword drop from
their grasp, and wars become more rare. As the spread of
equality, taking place in several countries at once,
simultaneously impels their various inhabitants to follow
manufactures and commerce, not only do their tastes grow alike,
but their interests are so mixed and entangled with one another
that no nation can inflict evils on other nations without those
evils falling back upon itself; and all nations ultimately regard
war as a calamity, almost as severe to the conqueror as to the
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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 The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: "has an immortal declared himself the master of the Awgwas! Never
shall an immortal venture to interfere with our actions again! For we
will avenge your scornful words by killing your friend Claus within
three days. Nor you, nor all the immortals can save him from our
wrath. We defy your powers! Begone, Master Woodsman of the World!
In the country of the Awgwas you have no place."
"It is war!" declared Ak, with flashing eyes.
"It is war!" returned the King, savagely. "In three days your friend
will be dead."
The Master turned away and came to his Forest of Burzee, where he
called a meeting of the immortals and told them of the defiance of the
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
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 Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: short, to go in search of fortune and death. The one -- that
is to say. death -- had constantly retreated before him, as
if afraid of him; the other -- that is to say, fortune --
for a month past only had really made an alliance with him.
Although he was not a great philosopher, after the fashion
of either Epicurus or Socrates, he was a powerful spirit,
having knowledge of life, and endowed with thought. No one
is as brave, as adventurous, or as skillful as D'Artagnan,
without being at the same time inclined to be a dreamer. He
had picked up, here and there, some scraps of M. de la
Rochefoucauld, worthy of being translated into Latin by MM.
Ten Years Later |
