The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: world is the Paradise which the Irishman talked of, in which "a
man might do what was right in the sight of his own eyes, and what
was wrong too, as he liked it."
Then Madam How would let me go in the yacht?
Of course she would, or jump overboard when you were in it; or put
your finger in the fire, and your head afterwards; or eat Irish
spurge, and die like the salmon; or anything else you liked.
Nobody is so indulgent as Madam How: and she would be the dearest
old lady in the world, but for one ugly trick that she has. She
never tells any one what is coming, but leaves them to find it out
for themselves. She lets them put their fingers in the fire, and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: of falling water and the melody of mocking birds. At the solemn noontides
the great white sun glared down hot--so hot that t burned the skin, yet
strangely was a pleasant burn. The waning afternoons were Carley's especial
torment, when it seemed the sounds and winds of the day were tiring, and
all things were seeking repose, and life must soften to an unthinking
happiness. These hours troubled Carley because she wanted them to last, and
because she knew for her this changing and transforming time could not
last. So long as she did not think she was satisfied.
Maples and sycamores and oaks were in full foliage, and their bright greens
contrasted softly with the dark shine of the pines. Through the spaces
between brown tree trunks and the white-spotted holes of the sycamores
 The Call of the Canyon |