| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: of lovers set at liberty, and happy to be free. When they had had
their coffee, and Lousteau was sitting in front of the fire, Dinah on
his knee, Pamela ran in with a scared face.
"Here is Monsieur Bixiou!" said she.
"Go into the bedroom," said the journalist to his mistress; "I will
soon get rid of him. He is one of my most intimate friends, and I
shall have to explain to him my new start in life."
"Oh, ho! dinner for two, and a blue velvet bonnet!" cried Bixiou. "I
am off.--Ah! that is what comes of marrying--one must go through some
partings. How rich one feels when one begins to move one's sticks,
heh?"
The Muse of the Department |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: bath-houses, so severely separated sexually, and go rowing on the
lake in a trim boat, followed by the shrill warnings of anxious
mamans. And in the evening one comes home, hat crowned with cool
gray Spanish moss, hands burdened with fantastic latanier baskets
woven by the brown bayou boys, hand in hand with your dearest
one, tired but happy.
At this particular picnic, however, there had been bitterness of
spirit. Theophile was Manuela's own especial property, and
Theophile had proven false. He had not danced a single waltz or
quadrille with Manuela, but had deserted her for Claralie, blonde
and petite. It was Claralie whom Theophile had rowed out on the
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: conducted party pursued the conductor about the deck with enquiries
in a manner that suggested to Helen's mind the rather vulgar image
of hens with a piece of bacon peel, until at last he went into hiding
below. And the young man with the thin volume of poetry stood
at the stern watching England receding, looking rather lonely
and sad to Miss Winchelsea's eye.
And then came Calais and tumultuous novelties, and the young man
had not forgotten Miss Winchelsea's hold-all and the other little
things. All three girls, though they had passed government examinations
in French to any extent, were stricken with a dumb shame of their
accents, and the young man was very useful. And he did not intrude.
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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 The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: consult her on questions of etiquette or usages, or to take
lessons in good taste. And, in truth, no other old woman could
put back her snuff-box in her pocket as the Princess could; while
there was a precision and a grace about the movements of her
skirts, when she sat down or crossed her feet, which drove the
finest ladies of the young generation to despair. Her voice had
remained in her head during one-third of her lifetime; but she
could not prevent a descent into the membranes of the nose, which
lent to it a peculiar expressiveness. She still retained a
hundred and fifty thousand livres of her great fortune, for
Napoleon had generously returned her woods to her; so that
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