| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: defences. The airman must possess a quick eye, because
his especial duty is to note the disposition of the troops
immediately facing him, the placing of the artillery, and any
local movements of the forces that may be in progress.
Consequently the aviator engaged on this service may be absent
from his lines for only a few minutes, comparatively speaking;
the intelligence he acquires must be speedily communicated to the
force to which he is attached, because it may influence a local
movement.
The strategical reconnaissance, on the other hand, affects the
whole plan of campaign. The aviators told off for this duty are
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: indispensable. Accordingly he enlisted the wealthiest members of every
city in those parts to breed and furnish horses; with this saving
clause, however: that the individual who furnished a horse and arms
with a good rider should be exempt from service himself. By this means
he engendered an eagerness to discharge the obligation, not unlike
that of the condemned man, casting about to discover some one to die
in his place.[11] He further ordered some of the states themselves to
furnish contingents of mounted troopers, and this in the conviction
that from such training-centres he would presently get a pick of
cavaliers proud of their horsemanship. And thus once more he won
golden opinions by the skill with which he provided himself with 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 Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: to shut me out from exercise of any kind under penalty of
immediate and great exhaustion. I had been under the care of
doctors of the highest standing both in Europe and America, men
in whose power to help me I had had great faith, with no or ill
result. Then, at a time when I seemed to be rather rapidly
losing ground, I heard some things that gave me interest enough
in mental healing to make me try it; I had no great hope of
getting any good from it--it was a CHANCE I tried, partly
because my thought was interested by the new possibility it
seemed to open, partly because it was the only chance I then
could see. I went to X in Boston, from whom some friends of mine
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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 Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: occupied by the tearose Safrano; all the rose beds are carpeted with pansies
sown in July and transplanted in October, each bed having a separate colour.
The purple ones are the most charming and go well with every rose,
but I have white ones with Laurette Messimy, and yellow ones
with Safrano, and a new red sort in the big centre bed of red roses.
<108> Round the semicircle on the south side of the little privet hedge
two rows of annual larkspurs in all their delicate shades have been sown,
and just beyond the larkspurs, on the grass, is a semicircle of standard
tea and pillar roses.
In front of the house the long borders have been stocked
with larkspurs, annual and perennial, columbines, giant poppies,
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
