| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: describe him better. Like I know not how many of those who do the
fetching and carrying of life,--a great number of them
certainly,--his real life was absolutely uninteresting, and if he
had faced it as realistically as such people do in Mr. Gissing's
novels, he would probably have come by way of drink to suicide in
the course of a year. But that was just what he had the natural
wisdom not to do. On the contrary, he was always decorating his
existence with imaginative tags, hopes, and poses, deliberate and
yet quite effectual self-deceptions; his experiences were mere
material for a romantic superstructure. If some power had given
Hoopdriver the 'giftie' Burns invoked, 'to see oursels as ithers
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: young friends.
"Dave, I tell you your theory about seeing them again is absurd," asserted
George. "I'll never forget that wretch, Girty, as he spoke to Nell. Why, she
just wilted like a flower blasted by fire. I can't understand why he let me
go, and kept Jim, unless the Shawnee had something to do with it. I never
wished until now that I was a hunter. I'd go after Girty. You've heard as
well as I of his many atrocities. I'd rather have seen Kate and Nell dead than
have them fall into his power. I'd rather have killed them myself!"
Young had aged perceptibly in these last few days. The blue veins showed at
his temples; his face had become thinner and paler, his eyes had a look of
pain. The former expression of patience, which had sat so well on him, was
The Spirit of the Border |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: wife eventually reached Greece, as he had originally intended.
Elmer went with the Rev. Mr. Calthrop to assist him in his
missionary work.
But it was some time before the Jasper B. sailed. Besides the
hole which was the entrance to the tunnel it was discovered that
the vessel rested on a brick foundation. The man who had used
her for a saloon and dancing platform in years past had dug away
part of the bank of the canal to fit the curve of her starboard
side and had then jammed her tight into the land. Even then she
would move a trifle at times, so he had built a dam around her,
pumped the water out of the inclosed space, jacked the hulk up,
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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 Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: to its fullest extent. Less influenced, as a son of the nineteenth
century, by the religious aspect of the matter, Monsieur de
Grandville's heart was filled with an awful dread; for he saw before
him, he contemplated the drama of that woman's hidden self at the
hotel Graslin during the trial of Jean-Francois Tascheron. That tragic
period came back distinctly to his memory,--lighted even now by the
mother's eyes, shining with hatred, which fell upon him where he
stood, like drops of molten lead. That old woman, standing ten feet
from him, forgave nothing. That man, representing human justice,
trembled. Pale, struck to the heart, he dared not cast his eyes upon
the bed where lay the woman he had loved so well, now livid beneath
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