| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: sense, but merely because Damien's admirers and disciples were the
least likely to be critical. I know you will be more suspicious
still; and the facts set down above were one and all collected from
the lips of Protestants who had opposed the father in his life.
Yet I am strangely deceived, or they build up the image of a man,
with all his weakness, essentially heroic, and alive with rugged
honesty, generosity, and mirth.
Take it for what it is, rough private jottings of the worst sides
of Damien's character, collected from the lips of those who had
laboured with and (in your own phrase) "knew the man"; - though I
question whether Damien would have said that he knew you. Take it,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: into the town at last: but no, there it stopped, and cooled, and
hardened, and left the town unhurt. All the inhabitants said, of
course, that St. Agatha had done it: but learned men found out
that, as usual Madam How had done it, by making it do itself. The
lava was so full of gas, which was continually blowing out in
little jets, that when it reached the wall, it actually blew
itself back from the wall; and, as the wall was luckily strong
enough not to be blown down, the lava kept blowing itself back
till it had time to cool. And so, my dear child, there was no
miracle at all in the matter; and the poor people of Catania had
to thank not St. Agatha, and any interference of hers, but simply
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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 Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: finished, as if they had scarcely been working more than a few minutes.
It was not a moment too soon. The liquefied substances soon after reached
the bottom of the barrier. The stream of lava swelled like a river about to
overflow its banks, and threatened to demolish the sole obstacle which
could prevent it from overrunning the whole Far West. But the dam held
firm, and after a moment of terrible suspense the torrent precipitated
itself into Grant Lake from a height of twenty feet.
The colonists, without moving or uttering a word, breathlessly regarded
this strife of the two elements.
What a spectacle was this conflict between water and fare! What pen could
describe the marvelous horror of this scene--what pencil could depict it?
The Mysterious Island |
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 Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: Lacedaemonian don a wreath. Then, too, so runs the order, let the
shields be brightly polished. The privilege is accorded to the young
man to enter battle with his long locks combed.[17] To be of cheery
countenance--that, too, is of good repute. Onwards they pass the word
of command to the subaltern[18] in command of his section, since it is
impossible to hear along the whole of each section from the particular
subaltern posted on the outside. It devolves, finally, on the
polemarch to see that all goes well.
[16] See Plut. "Lycurg." 22 (Clough, i. 114); and for the goat
sacrificed to Artemis Agrotera, see "Hell." IV. ii. 20; Pause. IX.
xiii. 4; Plut. "Marcell." 22 (Clough, ii. 264).
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