| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: Proprietors. And when September the first got a cross-mark on the
calendar, the come-ons begun to roll in. First the faculty got off the
tri-weekly express from Tucson. They was mostly young, spectacled, and
red-headed, with sentiments divided between ambition and food. Andy
and me got 'em billeted on the Floresvillians and then laid for the
students.
"They came in bunches. We had advertised the University in all the
state papers, and it did us good to see how quick the country
responded. Two hundred and nineteen husky lads aging along from 18 up
to chin whiskers answered the clarion call of free education. They
ripped open that town, sponged the seams, turned it, lined it with new
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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 Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: In the mean time the party pursued their route joyfully. Having
once taken his resolution, the Master of Ravenswood was not of a
character to hesitate or pause upon it. He abandoned himself to
the pleasure he felt in Miss Ashton's company, and displayed an
assiduous gallantry which approached as nearly to gaiety as the
temper of his mind and state of his family
permitted. The Lord Keeper was much struck with his depth of
observation, and the unusual improvement which he had derived
from his studies. Of these accomplishments Sir William Ashton's
profession and habits of society rendered him an excellent judge;
and he well knew how to appreciate a quality to which he himself
The Bride of Lammermoor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: Mignon, where the Kellers had placed him to learn the principles of
maritime commerce, no one at the Chalet had ever asked him to do the
smallest thing, no matter what; his reply was too well known. The
young fellow looked at Modeste precisely as he would have looked at a
cheap lithograph.
"He's one of the pistons of the big engine called 'Commerce,'" said
poor Butscha, whose clever mind made itself felt occasionally by such
little sayings timidly jerked out.
The four Latournelles bowed with the most respectful deference to an
old lady dressed in black velvet, who did not rise from the armchair
in which she was seated, for the reason that both eyes were covered
Modeste Mignon |
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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: In a few moments he appeared also in full Highland costume with bare
knees, kilt, philibeg, etc. He told us he had then on these
mountains 15,000 head of dear, and thought we might like to see a
START, as it is called. The head stalker told him, however, that
the wind had changed which affects the scent, and that nothing could
be done that day. The Duke tried to make us amends by making some
of his people sing us Gaelic songs and show us some of the athletic
Highland games. The little lodge he also went over with us, and
said that the Duchess came there and lived six or seven weeks in the
autumn, and that the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch rented it for
many years while he was a minor. If you could see the tiny little
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