| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: witch cummers would soon whirl her out of her shroud for a' their
auld acquaintance--and be't six feet, or be't three, wha's to pay
the making o't, I pray ye?"
"I will pay that, my friend, and all other reasonable charges."
"Reasonable charges!" said the sexton; "ou, there's
grundmail--and bell-siller, though the bell's broken, nae doubt--
and the kist--and my day's wark--and my bit fee--and some brandy
and yill to the dirgie, I am no thinking that you can inter her,
to ca' decently, under saxteen pund Scots."
"There is the money, my friend," said Ravenswood, "and something
over. Be sure you know the grave."
 The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: were touched with sprays of rose and gold and gold-green, but the
wind still blew cold from the northern snows, and the occupant of
Eudora's ancient carriage was presumably wrapped well to shelter
it from harm. There was, in fact, nothing to be seen in the
carriage, except a large roll of blue and white, as Eudora
emerged from the yard and closed the iron gate of the tall fence
behind her.
Through this fence pricked the evergreen box, and the deep yard
was full of soft pastel tints of reluctantly budding trees and
bushes. There was one deep splash of color from a yellow bush in
full bloom.
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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 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: showed it. He never goes with Flo, always gets on my side of the
carriage, table, or promenade, looks sentimental when we are alone,
and frowns at anyone else who ventures to speak tome. Yesterday
at dinner, when an Austrian officer stared at us and then said
something to his friend, a rakish-looking baron, about `ein wonderschones
Blondchen', Fred looked as fierce as a lion, and cut his meat
so savagely it nearly flew off his plate. He isn't one of the
cool, stiff Englishmen, but is rather peppery, for he has Scotch
blood in him, as one might guess from his bonnie blue eyes.
Well, last evening we went up to the castle about sunset, at
least all of us but Fred, who was to meet us there after going to
 Little Women |
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 Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: was ranged against another formidable rival--the Parseval. But
the latter also failed to hold its own against the Spanish
invention, inasmuch as the Astra-Torres built for the British
authorities exceeded a speed of 50 miles per hour in the official
tests. This vessel is still doing valuable duty, being attached
to the British air-service in France.
The achievements of the British vessel were not lost upon the
French Government, which forthwith placed an order for a huge
vessel of 812,200 cubic feet capacity, equipped with motors
developing 1,000 horse-power, which it was confidently expected
would enable a speed of 60 miles per hour to be attained. Thus
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