| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: and wood sorrel. There he had dug
quite a deep hole for dog darnel;
and had set a mole trap. A little
stream crossed the way. Benjamin
skipped lightly over dry-foot; the
badger's heavy steps showed
plainly in the mud.
The path led to a part of the
thicket where the trees had been
cleared; there were leafy oak
stumps, and a sea of blue hyacinths
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: decree of vengeance, once given, was as immutable as destiny. The big, horny
hands gripped in a viselike clasp born of fierce passion, but no word was
spoken.
Far to the west somewhere, a befrilled and dedizened renegade pursued the wild
tenor of his ways; perhaps, even now steeping his soul in more crime, or
staining his hands a deeper red, but sleeping or waking, he dreamed not of
this deadly compact that meant his doom.
The two hunters turned their stern faces toward the west, and passed silently
down the ridge into the depths of the forest. Darkness found them within
rifle-shot of the Village of Peace. With the dog creeping between them, they
crawled to a position which would, in daylight, command a view of the
The Spirit of the Border |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: men can live there. Sometimes I played the bass in an orchestra,
sometimes I was on the boards in the chorus, sometimes under them with
the carpenters. Thus I learned every kind of musical effect, studying
the tones of instruments and of the human voice, wherein they differed
and how they harmonized, listening to the score and applying the rules
taught me by my father.
"It was hungry work, in a land where the sun always shines, where art
is all pervading, but where there is no pay for the artist, since Rome
is but nominally the Sovereign of the Christian world. Sometimes made
welcome, sometimes scouted for my poverty, I never lost courage. I
heard a voice within me promising me fame.
Gambara |
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 Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: productivity of labor, the fall in which reacts on all the
industries, on transport, on the general situation and so again
on itself.
Mr. J. M. Keynes, writing with Central Europe in his
mind (he is, I think, as ignorant of Russia as I am of
Germany), says: "What then is our picture of Europe? A
country population able to support life on the fruits of its
own agricultural production, but without the accustomed
surplus for the towns, and also (as a result of the lack of
imported materials, and so of variety and amount in the
salable manufactures of the towns) without the usual
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