| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Octopus by Frank Norris: Princess's attentions, misunderstanding their motive.
"Get out!" he exclaimed, lifting his feet to the rung of the
chair. "Lord love me, but I sure do hate a cat."
"By the way," observed Osterman, "I passed Genslinger by the gate
as I came in to-night. Had he been here?"
"Yes, he was here," said Harran, "and--" but Annixter took the
words out of his mouth.
"He says there's some talk of the railroad selling us their
sections this winter."
"Oh, he did, did he?" exclaimed Osterman, interested at once.
"Where did he hear that?"
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: had forced my way through a gentleman's grounds, I came out on the
high road, and sat down to rest myself on a heap of stones at the top
of a long hill, with Cockermouth lying snugly at the bottom. An
Irish beggar-woman, with a beautiful little girl by her side, came up
to ask for alms, and gradually fell to telling me the little tragedy
of her life. Her own sister, she told me, had seduced her husband
from her after many years of married life, and the pair had fled,
leaving her destitute, with the little girl upon her hands. She
seemed quite hopeful and cheery, and, though she was unaffectedly
sorry for the loss of her husband's earnings, she made no pretence of
despair at the loss of his affection; some day she would meet the
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Land of Footprints by Stewart Edward White: chief, according to his temperament and training, tried to do
things up properly. And in that attempt certain basic traits of
human nature showed in the very strongest relief. Thus there are
three points of view to take in running any spectacle: that of
the star performer, the stage manager, or the truly artistic. We
encountered well-marked specimens of each. I will tell you about
them.
The star performer knew his stagecraft thoroughly; and in the
exposition of his knowledge he showed incidentally how truly
basic are the principles of stagecraft anywhere.
We were seated under a tree near the banks of a stream eating our
|
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 King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: determined to manage matters better. So he took some more of
Gluck's money and went to a bad priest, who gave him some holy water
very readily for it. Then Schwartz was sure it was all quite right.
So Schwartz got up early in the morning before the sun rose, and
took some bread and wine in a basket, and put his holy water in a
flask, and set off for the mountains. Like his brother he was much
surprised at the sight of the glacier and had great difficulty in
crossing it, even after leaving his basket behind him. The day was
cloudless but not bright; there was a heavy purple haze hanging over
the sky, and the hills looked lowering and gloomy. And as Schwartz
climbed the steep rock path the thirst came upon him, as it had upon
|
