| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: at home with your mother; and remember, I am determined to protect
you from the consuming fire that looks so fair to your view."
Cumming, January 22, 1844.
Sir--In regard to your request, I am as I ever have been, utterly opposed
to your marrying into my family; and if you have any regard for yourself,
or any gentlemanly feeling, I hope you will mention it to me no more;
but seek some other one who is not so far superior to you in standing.
W. W. Valeer.
When Elfonzo read the above letter, he became so much depressed
in spirits that many of his friends thought it advisable to use
other means to bring about the happy union. "Strange," said he,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: body. But those who pretend to be justified by works are looking,
not to the mortification of their lusts, but only to the works
themselves; thinking that, if they can accomplish as many works
and as great ones as possible, all is well with them, and they
are justified. Sometimes they even injure their brain, and
extinguish nature, or at least make it useless. This is enormous
folly, and ignorance of Christian life and faith, when a man
seeks, without faith, to be justified and saved by works.
To make what we have said more easily understood, let us set it
forth under a figure. The works of a Christian man, who is
justified and saved by his faith out of the pure and unbought
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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 Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: of her spelling, while her old friend could turn out the most
feeling epistles. She ran to fetch some good note paper in her
bedroom. An inkstand consisting of a bottle of ink worth about
three sous stood untidily on one of the pieces of furniture, with a
pen deep in rust beside it. The letter was for Daguenet. Mme
Maloir herself wrote in her bold English hand, "My darling little
man," and then she told him not to come tomorrow because "that could
not be" but hastened to add that "she was with him in thought at
every moment of the day, whether she were near or far away."
"And I end with 'a thousand kisses,'" she murmured.
Mme Lerat had shown her approval of each phrase with an emphatic
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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 Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: shall I send back your five knights, for of a truth his
blade is more powerful than that of any ten men I
ere saw fight before."
"Methinks," said Mary, still peeved at her friend's
determination to leave on the morrow, "that should
you meet the doughty Sir Roger all unarmed that still
would you send back my father's knights."
Bertrade flushed, and then bit her lip as she felt the
warm blood mount to her cheek.
"Thou be a fool, Mary," she said.
Mary broke into a joyful, teasing laugh; hugely en-
The Outlaw of Torn |
