| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: replied,--
"Do not doubt my perfect confidence in the truth of your
communication, however strange it may be," replied Lord
Woodville. "I know your firmness of disposition too well, to
suspect you could be made the object of imposition, and am aware
that your honour and your friendship will equally deter you from
exaggerating whatever you may have witnessed."
"Well, then," said the General, "I will proceed with my story as
well as I can, relying upon your candour, and yet distinctly
feeling that I would rather face a battery than recall to my mind
the odious recollections of last night."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Margret Howth: A Story of To-day by Rebecca Harding Davis: not shine: down in the fetid cellars, in the slimy cells of the
prison yonder: what riddles of life lay there he dared not think
of. God knows how the man groped for the light,--for any voice
to make earth and heaven clear to him.
There was another light by which the world was seen that day,
rarer than the sunshine, and purer. It fell on the dense
crowds,--upon the just and the unjust. It went into the fogs of
the fetid dens from which the coarser light was barred, into the
deepest mires of body where a soul could wallow, and made them
clear. It lighted the depths of the hearts whose outer pain and
passion men were keen to read in the unpitying sunshine, and
Margret Howth: A Story of To-day |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: returned his greeting with extreme deference. While the old man
stood waiting for Noemie to make a parcel of her implements,
he let his mild, oblique gaze hover toward Bellegarde, who was
watching Mademoiselle Noemie put on her bonnet and mantle.
Valentin was at no pains to disguise his scrutiny.
He looked at a pretty girl as he would have listened to a piece
of music. Attention, in each case, was simple good manners.
M. Nioche at last took his daughter's paint-box in one
hand and the bedaubed canvas, after giving it a solemn,
puzzled stare, in the other, and led the way to the door.
Mademoiselle Noemie made the young men the salute of a duchess,
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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 An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: He tried, as he spoke, to take away the little box which she had
slipped into one of her pockets. But at the touch of a profane hand on
her clothes, the stranger recovered youth and activity for a moment,
preferring to face the dangers of the street with no protector save
God, to the loss of the thing she had just paid for. She sprang to the
door, flung it open, and disappeared, leaving the husband and wife
dumfounded and quaking with fright.
Once outside in the street, she started away at a quick walk; but her
strength soon failed her. She heard the sound of the snow crunching
under a heavy step, and knew that the pitiless spy was on her track.
She was obliged to stop. He stopped likewise. From sheer terror, or
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