| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: to work to teach them to be so cruel?"
"Well, I suppose in a way setters are natural hunters, Tattine, but then their
training has doubtless a great deal to do with it, but I want to tell you
something that I think will give you just a grain of comfort. I read the other
day that Sir John Franklin, the great Arctic explorer, who almost lost his
life in being attacked by some huge animal--it must have been a bear, I
think--says that the animal when he first gets you in his teeth gives you such
a shake that it paralyzes your nerves--this is, it benumbs all your feelings,
so, that, strange as it may seem, you really do not suffer. So let us hope
that it was that way with this little rabbit."
"But there's a little blood here on one side, Mamma."
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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 Lysis by Plato: has been uttered too obtrusively, at the wrong time, or in the wrong
manner; or the need of it has not been perceived until too late. 'Oh if he
had only told me' has been the silent thought of many a troubled soul. And
some things have to be indicated rather than spoken, because the very
mention of them tends to disturb the equability of friendship. The
alienation of friends, like many other human evils, is commonly due to a
want of tact and insight. There is not enough of the Scimus et hanc veniam
petimusque damusque vicissim. The sweet draught of sympathy is not
inexhaustible; and it tends to weaken the person who too freely partakes of
it. Thus we see that there are many causes which impair the happiness of
friends.
Lysis |
