| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: he resented her loyalty to the city of her nativity? Always there was a
little rift in the lute. Had his tone and look meant that Flo might catch
him if Carley could not? Absurd as the idea was, it spurred her to
recklessness. Her mustang did not need any more than to know she wanted him
to run. The road was of soft yellow earth flanked with green foliage and
overspread by pines. In a moment she was racing at a speed she had never
before half attained on a horse. Down the winding road Glenn's big steed
sped, his head low, his stride tremendous, his action beautiful. But Carley
saw the distance between them diminishing. Calico was overtaking the bay.
She cried out in the thrilling excitement of the moment. Glenn saw her
gaining and pressed his mount to greater speed. Still he could not draw
The Call of the Canyon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: in no way angered at the girl's attitude.
"Let us inquire," he said in a smooth, pleasant voice, "why
this young woman refuses to do homage to her sovereign," and
he put the question himself directly to her.
She answered him in Abyssinian, but brokenly and with an
accent that betrayed how recently she had acquired her
slight knowledge of the tongue.
"I go on my knees to no one," she said. "I have no
sovereign. I myself am sovereign in my own country."
Menelek, at her words, leaned back in his throne and laughed
uproariously. Following his example, which seemed always
Lost Continent |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: world was a man." The prophet and the precursor of incredulity meet
thus in the greatest of all formulas.
Everything in human life is predestined, so it is also with the
existence of the planet. The least event, the most futile phenomena,
are all subordinate parts of a scheme. Great things, therefore, great
designs, and great thoughts are of necessity reflected in the smallest
actions, and that so faithfully, that should a conspirator shuffle and
cut a pack of playing-cards, he will write the history of his plot for
the eyes of the seer styled gypsy, fortune-teller, charlatan, or what
not. If you once admit fate, which is to say, the chain of links of
cause and effect, astrology has a /locus standi/, and becomes what it
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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 Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: him, and the baby always had its share in gaining her a speedy
hearing, and if possible a favorable answer to her petition.
When children came to him at the White House of their own accord,
as they sometimes did, the favors they asked were not refused
because of their youth. One day a small boy, watching his chance,
slipped into the Executive Office between a governor and a
senator, when the door was opened to admit them. They were as
much astonished at seeing him there as the President was, and
could not explain his presence; but he spoke for himself. He had
come, he said, from a little country town, hoping to get a place
as page in the House of Representatives. The President began to
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