| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: of success says, 'Move on to the next town.' I was travelling by wagon
at that time so as not to miss any of the small towns; so I hitched up
a few days later and went down to tell Mame good-bye. I wasn't
abandoning the game; I intended running over to Oklahoma City and work
it for a week or two. Then I was coming back to institute fresh
proceedings against Mame.
"What do I find at the Dugans' but Mame all conspicuous in a blue
travelling dress, with her little trunk at the door. It seems that
sister Lottie Bell, who is a typewriter in Terre Haute, is going to be
married next Thursday, and Mame is off for a week's visit to be an
accomplice at the ceremony. Mame is waiting for a freight wagon that
 Heart of the West |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: every hour, the mysteries of her untiring travail.
Feeble existences, like that of Birotteau, live sunk in sorrows,
instead of transmuting them into doctrines of experience: they let
them saturate their being, and are worn-out, finally, by falling more
and more under the weight of past misfortunes.
When the two couples reached the path which leads to the woods of
Aulnay, placed like a crown upon the prettiest hillside in the
neighborhood of Paris, and from which the Vallee-aux-Loups is seen in
all its coquetry, the beauty of the day, the charm of the landscape,
the first spring verdure, the delicious memory of the happiest day of
all his youth, loosened the tight chords in Cesar's soul; he pressed
 Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |