| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: "Because we call it molasses," answers the American.
"How absurd to speak of a car when you mean a carriage!" exclaims the
Englishman.
"We don't mean a carriage, we mean a car," retorts the American.
You, my reader, may have heard (or perhaps even held) foolish
conversations like that; and you will readily perceive that if we didn't
say "car" when we spoke of the vehicle you get into when you board a
train, but called it a voiture, or something else quite "foreign," the
Englishman would not feel that we had taken a sort of liberty with his
mother-tongue. A deep point lies here: for most English the world is
divided into three peoples, English, foreigners, and Americans; and for
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: "No, my boy. Be very good to him, won't you?"
"Of course I will, but I can't fill your place, and he'll
miss you sadly."
"It won't hurt him, so remember, I leave him in your
charge, to plague, pet, and keep in order."
"I'll do my best, for your sake," promised Beth, wondering
why Jo looked at her so queerly.
When Laurie said good-by, he whispered significantly, "It
won't do a bit of good, Jo. My eye is on you, so mind what you
do, or I'll come and bring you home."
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Little Women |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Treatise on Parents and Children by George Bernard Shaw: And this is just what they do not know at present. You may say of
them, paraphrasing Mr. Kipling, "What do they know of Plato that only
Plato know?" If our universities would exclude everybody who had not
earned a living by his or her own exertions for at least a couple of
years, their effect would be vastly improved.
The New Laziness
The child of the future, then, if there is to be any future but one of
decay, will work more or less for its living from an early age; and in
doing so it will not shock anyone, provided there be no longer any
reason to associate the conception of children working for their
living with infants toiling in a factory for ten hours a day or boys
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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 Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: threep; and that her husband dares not contradict her."
"But yet," said the Master, "I trust your lordship will consider
my engagement as sacred."
"Believe my word of honour," said the Marquis, "I would be a
friend even to your follies; and having thus told you MY
opinion, I will endeavour, as occasion offers, to serve you
according to your own."
The master of Ravenswood could but thank his generous kinsman
and patron, and leave him full power to act in all his affairs.
He departed from Scotland upon his mission, which, it was
supposed, might detain him upon the continent for some months.
The Bride of Lammermoor |
