| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Message by Honore de Balzac: real life are superlatively uninteresting; so that it is one-half
of art to select from realities those which contain possibilities
of poetry.
In 1819 I was traveling from Paris to Moulins. The state of my
finances obliged me to take an outside place. Englishmen, as you
know, regard those airy perches on the top of the coach as the
best seats; and for the first few miles I discovered abundance of
excellent reasons for justifying the opinion of our neighbors. A
young fellow, apparently in somewhat better circumstances, who
came to take the seat beside me from preference, listened to my
reasoning with inoffensive smiles. An approximate nearness of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: income of His Royal and Imperial Majesty, Francis Joseph, we rolled
on our way, through the hamlets of Acqua Bona and Zuel, into the
Ampezzan metropolis of Cortina, at sundown.
The modest inn called "The Star of Gold" stood facing the public
square, just below the church, and the landlady stood facing us in
the doorway, with an enthusiastic welcome--altogether a most
friendly and entertaining landlady, whose one desire in life seemed
to be that we should never regret having chosen her house instead
of "The White Cross," or "The Black Eagle."
"O ja!" she had our telegram received; and would we look at the
rooms? Outlooking on the piazza, with a balcony from which we
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