Today's Stichomancy for Mark Twain

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Case of the Golden Bullet by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner:

"I am Johann Nepomuk."

Muller took a little calendar from his pocket and turned its pages. "It was May sixteenth," volunteered the valet.

"Quite right. May sixteenth was a Saturday. And since then you have gone to the theatre every Saturday evening?"

"Yes, sir.

"When did the owner of the house go away?"

"Last April. His wife was ill and he had to take her away. They went to Italy."

"And you two have been alone in the house since April?"

"Yes, sir, we two."

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tanach:

Psalms 69: 17 (69:18) And hide not Thy face from Thy servant; for I am in distress; answer me speedily.

Psalms 69: 18 (69:19) Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it; ransom me because of mine enemies.

Psalms 69: 19 (69:20) Thou knowest my reproach, and my shame, and my confusion; mine adversaries are all before Thee.

Psalms 69: 20 (69:21) Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am sore sick; and I looked for some to show compassion, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

Psalms 69: 21 (69:22) Yea, they put poison into my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Psalms 69: 22 (69:23) Let their table before them become a snare; and when they are in peace, let it become a trap.

Psalms 69: 23 (69:24) Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to totter.

Psalms 69: 24 (69:25) Pour out Thine indignation upon them, and let the fierceness of Thine anger overtake them.

Psalms 69: 25 (69:26) Let their encampment be desolate; let none dwell in their tents.

Psalms 69: 26 (69:27) For they persecute him whom Thou hast smitten; and they tell of the pain of those whom Thou hast wounded.

Psalms 69: 27 (69:28) Add iniquity unto their iniquity; and let them not come into Thy righteousness.

The Tanach

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne:

brim, trousers with a narrow edge of red, and a bit of leather rolled round the foot for shoes.

The women looked as sad and as resigned as the men; their faces were agreeable but expressionless, and they wore gowns and petticoats of dark 'vadmel'; as maidens, they wore over their braided hair a little knitted brown cap; when married, they put around their heads a coloured handkerchief, crowned with a peak of white linen.

After a good walk I returned to M. Fridrikssen's house, where I found my uncle already in his host's company.

CHAPTER X.

INTERESTING CONVERSATIONS WITH ICELANDIC SAVANTS

Journey to the Center of the Earth

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 Aesop's Fables by Aesop:

with their tails. He pointed out how inconvenient a tail was when they were pursued by their enemies, the dogs; how much it was in the way when they desired to sit down and hold a friendly conversation with one another. He failed to see any advantage in carrying about such a useless encumbrance. "That is all very well," said one of the older foxes; "but I do not think you would have recommended us to dispense with our chief ornament if you had not happened to lose it yourself."

Distrust interested advice.

The One-Eyed Doe

A Doe had had the misfortune to lose one of her eyes, and

Aesop's Fables