| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Redheaded Outfield by Zane Grey: in detaining Nan on the way to the station,
and the two missed the train. At first the Rube
laughed with the others, but when Stringer
remarked that he had noticed a growing attachment
between Nan and Spears, my great pitcher
experienced the first pangs of the green-eyed
monster. We had to hold him to keep him from
jumping from the train, and it took Milly and Mrs.
Stringer to soothe him. I had to wire back to
Rochester for a special train for Spears and Nan,
and even then we had to play half a game without
The Redheaded Outfield |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: on the clumsiness of speech as a means of intercourse, and his
eyes had turned to her in renewed appreciation of this finer
faculty when Mrs. Armiger's voice abruptly brought home to him the
underrated potentialities of language.
"You've read them, of course, Mrs. Glennard?" he heard her ask;
and, in reply to Alexa's vague interrogation--"Why, the 'Aubyn
Letters'--it's the only book people are talking of this week."
Mrs. Dresham immediately saw her advantage. "You HAVEN'T read
them? How very extraordinary! As Mrs. Armiger says, the book's
in the air; one breathes it in like the influenza."
Glennard sat motionless, watching his wife.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: coat, and carrying an umbrella even in the very finest weather.
And his umbrella was in a case, and his watch was in a case made
of grey chamois leather, and when he took out his penknife to
sharpen his pencil, his penknife, too, was in a little case; and
his face seemed to be in a case too, because he always hid it in
his turned-up collar. He wore dark spectacles and flannel vests,
stuffed up his ears with cotton-wool, and when he got into a cab
always told the driver to put up the hood. In short, the man
displayed a constant and insurmountable impulse to wrap himself
in a covering, to make himself, so to speak, a case which would
isolate him and protect him from external influences. Reality
|
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 Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: spectacle. Through by-ways and familiar lanes I stole to my cousin's
house, and from a back window, looked out upon the market-place.
Torches waved to and fro, in the hands of a wide circle of Spanish
soldiers. I sharpened my unaccustomed sight, and out of the darkness there
arose before me a scaffold, black, spacious, and lofty! The sight filled me
with horror. Several persons were employed in covering with black cloth
such portions of the wood-work as yet remained white and visible. The
steps were covered last, also with black;--I saw it all. They seemed
preparing for the celebration of some horrible sacrifice. A white crucifix,
that shone like silver through the night, was raised on one side. As I gazed
the terrible conviction strengthened in my mind. Scattered torches still
Egmont |
