| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: in her off-hours, some strolls and talks in the garden--
talks in which she struck me as awfully clever and nice.
Oh yes; don't grin: I liked her extremely and am glad to this day
to think she liked me, too. If she hadn't she wouldn't have told me.
She had never told anyone. It wasn't simply that she said so,
but that I knew she hadn't. I was sure; I could see.
You'll easily judge why when you hear."
"Because the thing had been such a scare?"
He continued to fix me. "You'll easily judge," he repeated:
"YOU will."
I fixed him, too. "I see. She was in love."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: they were gone, he raised the necklace to his lips with a heart
beating tumultuously with a triumphant joy it had never felt
before.
CHAPTER 26
And now, at last, had come the day of days for Myles Falworth;
the day when he was to put to the test all that he had acquired
in the three years of his training, the day that was to disclose
what promise of future greatness there was in his strong young
body. And it was a noble day; one of those of late September,
when the air seems sweeter and fresher than at other times; the
sun bright and as yellow as gold, the wind lusty and strong,
Men of Iron |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: get a grasshopper, put it on your hook, with your line about two yards
long; standing behind a bush or tree where his hole is: and make your
bait stir up and down on the top of the water. You may, if you stand
close, be sure of a bite, but not sure to catch him, for he is not a leather-
mouthed fish. And after this manner you may fish for him with almost
any kind of live fly, but especially with a grasshopper.
Venator. But before you go further, I pray, good master, what mean you
by a leather-mouthed fish ?
Piscator. By a leather-mouthed fish, I mean such as have their teeth in
their throat, as the Chub or Cheven: and so the Barbel, the Gudgeon,
and Carp, and divers others have. And the hook being stuck into the
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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 Confidence by Henry James: removed her eyes from Longueville's face and turned toward her mother.
But Gordon Wright checked this movement by laying his hand on Longueville's
shoulder and proceeding to introduce his friend.
"This is the accomplished creature, Mr. Bernard Longueville,
of whom you have heard me speak. One of his accomplishments,
as you see, is to drop down from the moon."
"No, I don't drop from the moon," said Bernard, laughing.
"I drop from--Siena!" He offered his hand to Miss Vivian,
who for an appreciable instant hesitated to extend her own.
Then she returned his salutation, without any response to his
allusion to Siena.
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