| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pierrette by Honore de Balzac: satisfy an imperious desire to handle the trowel and remodel their old
house into a charming new one.
This fixed idea produced upon the square of Lower Provins the front of
the building which Brigaut had been examining; also the interior
arrangements of the house and its handsome furniture. The contractor
did not drive a nail without consulting the owners, without requiring
them to sign the plans and specifications, without explaining to them
at full length and in every detail the nature of each article under
discussion, where it was manufactured, and what were its various
prices. As to the choicer things, each, they were told, had been used
by Monsieur Tiphaine, or Madame Julliard, or Monsieur the mayor, the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: being escorted home under armed guard.
When they rounded the head of the mesa, bringing into view the
ranch-house and the valley, Madeline saw dust or smoke hovering
over a hut upon the outskirts of the Mexican quarters. As the sun
had set and the light was fading, she could not distinguish which
it was. Then Stewart set a fast pace for the house. In a few
minutes the party was in the yard, ready and willing to dismount.
Stillwell appeared, ostensibly cheerful, too cheerful to deceive
Madeline. She noted also that a number of armed cowboys were
walking with their horses just below the house.
"Wal, you-all had a nice little run," Stillwell said, speaking
The Light of Western Stars |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: stands on the levee and gazes down at the old log, now almost
hidden in the luxuriant grass.
"It was the eternal feminine that spoiled our dream that day as
it spoiled the after life, was it not?"
But the Bayou St. John did not answer. It merely gathered into
its silent bosom another broken-hearted romance, and flowed
dispassionately on its way.
WHEN THE BAYOU OVERFLOWS
When the sun goes down behind the great oaks along the Bayou
Teche near Franklin, it throws red needles of light into the dark
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
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 Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: twenty pieces. Though the wily youth had a thousand before him
on the table, he coolly refused her request, on the plea that the
bank-- which he was then keeping--never lent. "Not a person in
the place," says the narrator of this anecdote, "but blamed him;
as to the duchess, her resentment burst out into a bleeding at
her nose, and breaking of her lace, without which aid it is
believed her vexation had killed her on the spot."
The courtly Evelyn speaks of a certain Twelfth-night, when the
king opened the revels in his privy chamber by throwing dice, and
losing one hundred pounds; and Pepys describes the groom-porters'
rooms where gambling greatly obtained, and "where persons of the
|
