| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: writing`seriously for a few weeks, and already the best
magazines in the country are refusing my manuscripts daily."
"Don't joke," said Norah, coming over to me, "I can't
stand it."
"Why not? Much better than weeping, isn't it? And
anyway, I'm no subject for tears any more. Dr. von
Gerhard will tell you how well and strong I am. Won't
you, Herr Doktor?"
Well," said Von Gerhard, in his careful, deliberate
English, "since you ask me, I should say that you might
last about one year, in New York."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: them round to the men. Presently he passed one to Halket, who lay half
behind him leaning on his elbow. For a while Halket ate nothing, then he
took a few mouthfuls; and again lay on his elbow.
"You are eating nothing, Halket," said the Englishman, cheerily, looking
back.
"I am not hungry now," he said. After a while he took out his red
handkerchief, and emptied carefully into it the contents of the plate; and
tied it up into a bundle. He set it beside him on the ground, and again
lay on his elbow.
"You won't come nearer to the fire, Halket?' asked the Englishman.
"No, thank you, the night is warm."
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: common nor far-fetched. All women do not succeed in this. It is no
surprise, therefore, to find a young woman who entered fashionable
society fresh and healthy, faded and worn out at the end of three
years. Six months spent in the country will hardly heal the wounds of
the winter. We hear continually, in these days, of mysterious
ailments,--gastritis, and so forth,--ills unknown to women when they
busied themselves about their households. In the olden time women only
appeared in the world at intervals; now they are always on the scene.
Clementine found she had to struggle for her supremacy. She was cited,
and that alone brought jealousies; and the care and watchfulness
exacted by this contest with her rivals left little time even to love
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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 Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: dead there in the hut.
Thus, then, did Chaka murder his mother Unandi.
Now when Baleka saw what had been done, she turned and fled from the
hut into the Emposeni, and so swiftly that the guards at the gates
could not stop her. But when she reached her own hut Baleka's strength
failed her, and she fell senseless on the ground. But the boy Moosa,
my son, being overcome with terror, stayed where he was, and Chaka,
believing him to be his son, murdered him also, and with his own hand.
Then he stalked out of the hut, and leaving the three guards at the
gate, commanded a company of soldiers to surround the kraal and fire
it. This they did, and as the people rushed out they killed them, and
Nada the Lily |
