| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: towards the place--when I saw the gate which intercepted the tomb, my heart
glowed within me--
--Tender and faithful spirits! cried I, addressing myself to Amandus and
Amanda--long--long have I tarried to drop this tear upon your tomb--I come-
-I come--
When I came--there was no tomb to drop it upon.
What would I have given for my uncle Toby, to have whistled Lillo bullero!
Chapter 4.XXII.
No matter how, or in what mood--but I flew from the tomb of the lovers--or
rather I did not fly from it--(for there was no such thing existing) and
just got time enough to the boat to save my passage;--and ere I had sailed
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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speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: never out of date, nor was the arrangement of her hair.
"For instance," said Ethel, "we never look at the house opposite
because we are at all prying, but we do know that that old maid
has been doing a mighty queer thing lately."
"First thing you know you will be an old maid yourself, and then
your stones will break your own glass house," said Abby Simson.
"Oh, I don't care," retorted Ethel. "Nowadays an old maid isn't
an old maid except from choice, and everybody knows it. But it
must have been different in Miss Eudora's time. Why, she is older
than you are, Miss Abby."
"Just five years," replied Abby, unruffled, "and she had chances,
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