| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: and intoxication; written when the signer is trembling for the
life of his child or has come from winning the Derby, in his
lawyer's office, or under the bright eyes of his sweetheart. To
the vulgar, these seem never the same; but to the expert, the
bank clerk, or the lithographer, they are constant quantities,
and as recognizable as the North Star to the night-watch on deck.
To all this Morris was alive. In the theory of that graceful art
in which he was now embarking, our spirited leather-merchant was
beyond all reproach. But, happily for the investor, forgery is an
affair of practice. And as Morris sat surrounded by examples of
his uncle's signature and of his own incompetence, insidious
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: were glad to get them, you may be sure.
There are also warm countries where there is no snow in winter, but
Claus and his reindeer visited them as well as the colder climes, for
there were little wheels inside the runners of his sledge which
permitted it to run as smoothly over bare ground as on the snow. And
the children who lived in the warm countries learned to know the name
of Santa Claus as well as those who lived nearer to the Laughing Valley.
Once, just as the reindeer were ready to start on their yearly trip, a
Fairy came to Claus and told him of three little children who lived
beneath a rude tent of skins on a broad plain where there were no
trees whatever. These poor babies were miserable and unhappy, for
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: not otherwise have thought of a change. In these country places
many people go on in their old houses when their families are too
large for them, for want of knowing where they can find another.
And Trumbull seems to have got no bite at all."
Rosamond knew that the inevitable moment was come. "I ordered
Trumbull not to inquire further," she said, with a careful calmness
which was evidently defensive.
Lydgate stared at her in mute amazement. Only half an hour
before he had been fastening up her plaits for her, and talking
the "little language" of affection, which Rosamond, though not
returning it, accepted as if she had been a serene and lovely image,
Middlemarch |
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 Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: had dropped to her knees before the table in the damp
little arbor, her face in her hands, her spare shoulders
shaking.
"Ich kann's nicht thun!" she moaned. "Ich kann
nicht! Ach, kleine Schwester, wo bist du denn! Nachts
und Morgens bete ich, aber doch kommst du nicht."
A great dry sob shook her. Her hand went to her
breast, to her throat, to her lips, with an odd, stifled
gesture.
"Do that again!" I cried, and shook Alma Pflugel
sharply by the shoulder. "Do that again!"
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