| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: of Bessie Alden, whom he always addressed as "Miss Bessie."
She immediately arranged with him, in the presence of her sister,
that he should conduct her to the scene of Anne Boleyn's execution.
"You may do as you please," said Mrs. Westgate.
"Only--if you desire the information--it is not the custom
here for young ladies to knock about London with young men."
"Miss Bessie has waltzed with me so often," observed Willie Woodley;
"she can surely go out with me in a hansom."
"I consider waltzing," said Mrs. Westgate, "the most innocent pleasure
of our time."
"It's a compliment to our time!" exclaimed the young man with a little laugh,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: to which all things tend which have any bulk, and an upper to which things
only ascend against their will. For as the universe is in the form of a
sphere, all the extremities, being equidistant from the centre, are equally
extremities, and the centre, which is equidistant from them, is equally to
be regarded as the opposite of them all. Such being the nature of the
world, when a person says that any of these points is above or below, may
he not be justly charged with using an improper expression? For the centre
of the world cannot be rightly called either above or below, but is the
centre and nothing else; and the circumference is not the centre, and has
in no one part of itself a different relation to the centre from what it
has in any of the opposite parts. Indeed, when it is in every direction
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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 Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: semblance of land, which bounded the distant horizon of waters.
"Greenland!" said he.
"Greenland?" I cried.
"Yes; we are only thirty-five leagues from it; and during thaws the
white bears, borne by the ice fields from the north, are carried even
into Iceland. But never mind that. Here we are at the top of Snæfell
and here are two peaks, one north and one south. Hans will tell us
the name of that on which we are now standing."
The question being put, Hans replied:
"Scartaris."
My uncle shot a triumphant glance at me.
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
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 Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The girl almost collapsed with the reaction from the terrific
mental, physical, and nervous strain under which she had
been labouring for the past few minutes. But, thank Heaven,
at last she was safe!
Even as she breathed a silent prayer of thanksgiving, she
saw a sudden expression of triumph lighten the features of
the cursing Russian, and at the same instant he dropped
suddenly to the ground, grasping firmly upon something which
wriggled through the mud toward the water.
Jane Clayton crouched, wide-eyed and horror-stricken, in
the bottom of the boat as she realized that at the last instant
The Beasts of Tarzan |
