| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: which he deserted."
"Now, by Saint George!" said Richard, again heaving up his arm.
But De Vaux threw himself between the King and the object of his
vengeance, and spoke with the blunt truth of his character, "My
liege, this must not be--here, nor by your hand. It is enough of
folly for one night and day to have entrusted your banner to a
Scot. Said I not they were ever fair and false?" [Such were the
terms in which the English used to speak of their poor northern
neighbours, forgetting that their own encroachments upon the
independence of Scotland obliged the weaker nation to defend
themselves by policy as well as force. The disgrace must be
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: "Men or beasts may possibly object to our visit. It is only wise
to take all precautions."
These defensive weapons were accompanied by pickaxes, crowbars,
saws, and other useful implements, not to mention clothing
adapted to every temperature, from that of polar regions to that
of the torrid zone.
Ardan wished to convey a number of animals of different sorts,
not indeed a pair of every known species, as he could not see
the necessity of acclimatizing serpents, tigers, alligators, or
any other noxious beasts in the moon. "Nevertheless," he said
to Barbicane, "some valuable and useful beasts, bullocks, cows,
From the Earth to the Moon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: marry, because you are paid a salary for teaching, but a husband
won't pay you anything, and growls if you ask for a share in the
egg and butter money. I expect Jane speaks from mournful
experience, for Mrs. Lynde says that her father is a perfect old
crank, and meaner than second skimmings. Josie Pye says she is
just going to college for education's sake, because she won't
have to earn her own living; she says of course it is different
with orphans who are living on charity--THEY have to hustle.
Moody Spurgeon is going to be a minister. Mrs. Lynde says he
couldn't be anything else with a name like that to live up to.
I hope it isn't wicked of me, Marilla, but really the thought of
Anne of Green Gables |
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 An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: a feeling of elation; for the men who followed the drums were
small, and walked shabbily. Each man inclined at his own angle,
and jolted to his own convenience, as he went. There was nothing
of the superb gait with which a regiment of tall Highlanders moves
behind its music, solemn and inevitable, like a natural phenomenon.
Who that has seen it can forget the drum-major pacing in front, the
drummers' tiger-skins, the pipers' swinging plaids, the strange
elastic rhythm of the whole regiment footing it in time - and the
bang of the drum, when the brasses cease, and the shrill pipes take
up the martial story in their place?
A girl, at school in France, began to describe one of our regiments
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