| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: "Hush, my good neighbor," cried Mme. Couture, "you are saying
such things----"
"Pooh!" put in Mme. Vauquer, "he does not hear.--Here, Sylvie!
come and help me to dress. I shall put on my best stays."
"What! your best stays just after dinner, madame?" said Sylvie.
"No, you can get some one else to lace you. I am not going to be
your murderer. It's a rash thing to do, and might cost you your
life."
"I don't care, I must do honor to M. Vautrin."
"Are you so fond of your heirs as all that?"
"Come, Sylvie, don't argue," said the widow, as she left the
Father Goriot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Juana by Honore de Balzac: reflective. Juana became profoundly sad as she saw the nature and the
extent of the life before her. Often she turned her eyes, brimming
with tears proudly repressed, upon Perez and Dona Lagounia, who fully
comprehended, both of them, the bitter thoughts those tears contained.
But they were silent: of what good were reproaches now; why look for
consolations? The deeper they were, the more they enlarged the wound.
One evening, Juana, stupid with grief, heard through the open door of
her little room, which the old couple had thought shut, a pitying moan
from her adopted mother.
"The child will die of grief."
"Yes," said Perez, in a shaking voice, "but what can we do? I cannot
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: It seems to me awfully foolish. You say you have given up taking
her seriously; but you take her seriously so long as you take
her at all."
Valentin turned round in his place and looked a while
at Newman, wrinkling his forehead and rubbing his knees.
"Vous parlez d'or. But she has wonderfully pretty arms.
Would you believe I didn't know it till this evening?"
"But she is a vulgar little wretch, remember, all the same," said Newman.
"Yes; the other day she had the bad taste to begin to abuse her father,
to his face, in my presence. I shouldn't have expected it of her;
it was a disappointment; heigho!"
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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 The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: firing again, and at the same instant another bullet grazed his
temple.
The next few seconds were a wild confusion of yelping dog,
shouts, curses, shots that roared like the explosion of big guns
in that pent-up and restricted place, stinking powder, and
streaks of fire that laced themselves across the darkness. But
only a single pistol replied to Cleggett's now and he was
confident that one of the men was out of the fight.
But the other man, blindly or with intention, was stumbling
nearer as he fired. A bullet creased Cleggett's shoulder; it was
fired so close to him that he felt the heat of the exploding
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