| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Unsocial Socialist by George Bernard Shaw: which I have read with great interest."
Miss Wilson, since her quarrel with Agatha, had been sore on the
subject of moral force. "No one is admitted here," she said,
"without a trustworthy introduction or recommendation. A disguise
is not a satisfactory substitute for either."
"Disguises are generally assumed for the purpose of concealing
crime," he remarked sententiously.
"Precisely so," she said emphatically.
"Therefore, I bear, to say the least, a doubtful character.
Nevertheless, I have formed with some of the students here a
slight acquaintance, of which, it seems, you disapprove. You have
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: reached the end. It was the same thing, yet how different.
Like in form, it had the added softness and finish
of a Raffaelle after Perugino, which, while faithfully
reproducing the original subject, entirely distances the
original art.
Charley's eyes rounded with surprise. "Well, you be
a clever lady!" he said, in admiration. "I've been
three weeks learning mine."
"I have heard it before," she quietly observed.
"Now, would you do anything to please me, Charley?"
"I'd do a good deal, miss."
Return of the Native |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: He talked the commonest local twaddle to Arabella with greater
zest than he would have felt in discussing all the philosophies
with all the Dons in the recently adored university, and passed
the spot where he had knelt to Diana and Phoebus without
remembering that there were any such people in the mythology,
or that the sun was anything else than a useful lamp for
illuminating Arabella's face. An indescribable lightness of heel
served to lift him along; and Jude, the incipient scholar,
prospective D.D., professor, bishop, or what not, felt himself
honoured and glorified by the condescension of this handsome
country wench in agreeing to take a walk with him in her Sunday
Jude the Obscure |
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 Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: overflowing elsewhere in a smart little house with a butler out on
the Ridgely Road.
She looked what she was, faithful and quietly loyal, steady - and
serene; not asking greatly but hoping much; full of small
unvisualized dreams and little inarticulate prayers; waiting, without
knowing that she was waiting.
Sometimes she worried. She thought she ought to "do something." A
good many of the girls she knew wanted to do something, but they were
vague as to what. She felt at those times that she was not being
very useful, and she had gone so far as to lay the matter before her
father a couple of years before, when she was just eighteen.
The Breaking Point |
