| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hermione's Little Group of Serious Thinkers by Don Marquis: does get here he won't be at all the sort of person
that one would care to receive socially.
"Hermione," she said to me only the other day,
"no Superman shall EVER come into MY house!"
She head some of my friends, you know, talk-
ing bout the Superman and Eugenics, and she has
an idea that he will be horribly improper.
"I consider that the Superman would be a DANGEROUS
influence in the life of a young woman," said Mamma.
"Mamma," I told her, you are FRIGHTFULLY behind
the times! There isn't a doubt in the world that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: waste-paper press can devour them as it has devoured many others,
and I will not shed a tear . . . and the world will move on just the
same."'--RICHARD STRAUSS.
The contents of this volume require some explanation of an
historical nature. It is scarcely realised by the present
generation that Wilde's works on their first appearance, with the
exception of De Profundis, were met with almost general condemnation
and ridicule. The plays on their first production were grudgingly
praised because their obvious success could not be ignored; but on
their subsequent publication in book form they were violently
assailed. That nearly all of them have held the stage is still a
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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 Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: easily have led and amused the middle classes in days when
people's heads were turned with distinctions, and art and science
were all the rage. But the narrow-minded leaders of a time of
great intellectual progress all of them detested art and science.
They had not even the wit to present religion in attractive
colours, though they needed its support. While Lamartine,
Lamennais, Montalembert, and other writers were putting new life
and elevation into men's ideas of religion, and gilding it with
poetry, these bunglers in the Government chose to make the
harshness of their creed felt all over the country. Never was
nation in a more tractable humour; La France, like a tired woman,
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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 The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: You can come back for all this pow-wow afterwards." He gave the
diplomatic service as a second choice. "There you are," he said,
"first-rate social position, nothing to do, theatres, operas, pretty
women, colour, life. The best of good times. Barring Washington,
that is. But Washington, they say, isn't as bad as it used to be--
since Teddy has Europeanized ‘em. . . ."
Even the Reverend Harold Benham took a subdued but thoughtful share
in his son's admonition. He came up to the flat--due precautions
were taken to prevent a painful encounter--he lunched at his son's
new club, and he was visibly oppressed by the contrast between the
young man's youthful fortunes and his own. As visibly he bore up
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