| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: it firmly so that the sweet crimson lips were very near his own. Then he
slowly bent his head.
Betty saw his intention, closed her eyes and whispered.
"Alfred, please don't--it's not fair--I beg of you--Oh!"
That kiss was Betty's undoing. She uttered a strange little cry. Then her dark
head found a hiding place over his heart, and her slender form, which a moment
before had resisted so fiercely, sank yielding into his embrace.
"Betty, do you dare tell me now that you do not care for me?" Alfred whispered
into the dusky hair which rippled over his breast.
Betty was brave even in her surrender. Her hands moved slowly upward along his
arms, slipped over his shoulders, and clasped round his neck. Then she lifted
Betty Zane |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: engrossed it being the inscription on Mrs. Henchard's
tombstone. The personage was in mourning like herself, was
about her age and size, and might have been her wraith or
double, but for the fact that it was a lady much more
beautifully dressed than she. Indeed, comparatively
indifferent as Elizabeth-Jane was to dress, unless for some
temporary whim or purpose, her eyes were arrested by the
artistic perfection of the lady's appearance. Her gait,
too, had a flexuousness about it, which seemed to avoid
angularity. It was a revelation to Elizabeth that human
beings could reach this stage of external development--she
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: merits on 'Change; the nurse whispered his praises as she gave
the potion in the sick-chamber; the lover blessed him at the hour
of appointed interview; and the town in general thanked Owen for
the punctuality of dinner time. In a word, the heavy weight upon
his spirits kept everything in order, not merely within his own
system, but wheresoever the iron accents of the church clock were
audible. It was a circumstance, though minute, yet characteristic
of his present state, that, when employed to engrave names or
initials on silver spoons, he now wrote the requisite letters in
the plainest possible style, omitting a variety of fanciful
flourishes that had heretofore distinguished his work in this
Mosses From An Old Manse |
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 Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: profit by it, as may make it worthy the time of their perusal, if they be
not too grave or too busy men. And this is all the confidence that I can
put on, concerning the merit of what is here offered to their
consideration and censure; and if the last prove too severe, as I have a
liberty, so I am resolved to use it, and neglect all sour censures.
And I wish the Reader also to take notice, that in writing of it I have
made myself a recreation of a recreation; and that it might prove so to
him, and not read dull and tediously, I have in several places mixed, not
any scurrility, but some innocent, harmless mirth, of which, if thou be a
severe, sour-complexioned man, then I here disallow thee to be a
competent judge; for divines say, there are offences given, and offences
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