| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: with those of the throat, already showing a few folds of flesh. But
the outline of the face was still faultless, and the chin delicate.
"Flore," said Jean-Jacques, in a trembling voice, "you feel at home in
this house?"
"Yes, Monsieur Jean."
As the heir was about to make his declaration, he felt his tongue
stiffen at the recollection of the dead man, just put away in his
grave, and a doubt seized him as to what lengths his father's
benevolence might have gone. Flore, who was quite unable even to
suspect his simplicity of mind, looked at her future master and waited
for a time, expecting Jean-Jacques to go on with what he was saying;
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: He carried also his cane, a thin wand of ebony with a gold
head, presented to him by the Improvement Club in
"recognition of services."
"That's right, that's right," said Marcus, with a grin.
"I'm takun a holiday myself to-day. I had a bit of business
to do over at Oakland, an' I thought I'd go up to B Street
afterward and see Selina. I haven't called on----"
But the party uttered an exclamation.
"Why, Selina is going with us."
"She's going to meet us at the Schuetzen Park station"
explained Trina.
McTeague |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: ever-pressing chores--a Kansas plutocrat.
One fiery July day, David Robinson drew up before Martin's shack.
The little old box-house was still unpainted without and
unpapered within. Two chairs, a home-made table with a Kansas
City Star as a cloth, a sheetless bed, a rough cupboard, a stove
and floors carpeted with accumulations of untidiness completed
the furnishings.
"Chris-to-pher Columbus!" exploded Robinson, "why don't you fix
yourself up a bit, Martin? The Lord knows you're going to be able
to afford it. What you need is a wife--someone to look after
you." And as Martin, observing him calmly, made no response, he
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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 Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: in front of the palace of the Tuileries, near the ruins of a house
recently pulled down, at the point where in our day the wing begins
which was intended to unite the chateau of Catherine de Medici with
the Louvre of the Valois.
The man stood there with folded arms and a bowed head, which he
sometimes raised to look alternately at the consular palace and at his
wife, who was sitting near him on a stone. Though the woman seemed
wholly occupied with the little girl of nine or ten years of age,
whose long black hair she amused herself by handling, she lost not a
single glance of those her companion cast on her. Some sentiment other
than love united these two beings, and inspired with mutual anxiety
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