| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: than one of those skeletons Polecrab talked about. And look - there
is another one over there!"
"This brings it home!" remarked Maskull, smiling.
"There is nothing comical in having died for beauty," said Gleameil,
bending her brows at him.
And when in the course of their walk he saw the innumerable human
bones, from gleaming white to dirty yellow, lying scattered about, as
if it were a naked graveyard among the hills, he agreed with her, and
fell into a sombre mood.
It was still light when they reached the highest point, and could set
eyes on the other side. The sea to the north of the island was in no
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: death, loss, and disappointment as it were straws upon the tide of
life.
FOR THE FAMILY
AID us, if it be thy will, in our concerns. Have mercy on this
land and innocent people. Help them who this day contend in
disappointment with their frailties. Bless our family, bless our
forest house, bless our island helpers. Thou who hast made for us
this place of ease and hope, accept and inflame our gratitude; help
us to repay, in service one to another, the debt of thine unmerited
benefits and mercies, so that, when the period of our stewardship
draws to a conclusion, when the windows begin to be darkened, when
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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 Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger: To conclude this introduction: my initiation, as I have confessed, was
primarily an emotional one. My interest in Birth Control was awakened
by experience. Research and investigation have followed. Our effort
has been to raise our program from the plane of the emotional to the
plane of the scientific. Any social progress, it is my belief, must
purge itself of sentimentalism and pass through the crucible of
science. We are willing to submit Birth Control to this test. It is
part of the purpose of this book to appeal to the scientist for aid,
to arouse that interest which will result in widespread research and
investigation. I believe that my personal experience with this idea
must be that of the race at large. We must temper our emotion and
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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 Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling: the mummeries of the falsely-called Church, which, I'll prove to
you, are founded merely on ancient fables -'
'Stick to your herbs and planets,' said Puck, laughing. 'You
should have told the magistrates, Nick, and had Jack fined.
Again, why did you neglect your plain duty?'
'Because - because I was kneeling, and praying, and weeping
with the rest of 'em at the Altar-rails. In medicine this is called the
Hysterical Passion. It may be - it may be.'
'That's as may be,' said Puck. They heard him turn the hay.
'Why, your hay is half hedge-brishings,' he said. 'You don't
expect a horse to thrive on oak and ash and thorn leaves, do you?'
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