| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: have the eyes of a cat! They can see in the dark; and that
woman there might well know --"
Michael Strogoff was on the point of following Sangarre
and the gypsy band, but he stopped. "No," thought he,
"no unguarded proceedings. If I were to stop that old
fortune teller and his companions my incognito would run
a risk of being discovered. Besides, now they have landed,
before they can pass the frontier I shall be far beyond it.
They may take the route from Kasan to Ishim, but that
affords no resources to travelers. Besides a tarantass,
drawn by good Siberian horses, will always go faster than
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: under these successive disappointments, but the continual
affluence of new disciples. The man had the tenacity of a
Bruce or a Columbus, with a pliability that was all his own.
He did not fight for what the world would call success; but
for "the wages of going on." Check him off in a dozen
directions, he would find another outlet and break forth. He
missed one vessel after another, and the main work still
halted; but so long as he had a single Japanese to enlighten
and prepare for the better future, he could still feel that
he was working for Japan. Now, he had scarce returned from
Nangasaki, when he was sought out by a new inquirer, the most
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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 The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: perfumes of the glen. Within, it had the look of habitation,
the human look. You had only to go into the third room,
which we did not use, and see its stones, its sifting earth,
its tumbled litter; and then return to our lodging, with the
beds made, the plates on the rack, the pail of bright water
behind the door, the stove crackling in a corner, and perhaps
the table roughly laid against a meal, - and man's order, the
little clean spots that he creates to dwell in, were at once
contrasted with the rich passivity of nature. And yet our
house was everywhere so wrecked and shattered, the air came
and went so freely, the sun found so many portholes, the
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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 Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: in his first estimate. She drank whiskey after her meals, and
when angry, which was often, swore like a buccaneer. As yet she
was almost, as one might say, without sex--savage, unconquered,
untamed, glorying in her own independence, her sullen isolation.
Her neck was thick, strong, and very white, her hands roughened
and calloused. In her men's clothes she looked tall, vigorous,
and unrestrained, and on more than one occasion, as Wilbur passed
close to her, he was made aware that her hair, her neck, her
entire personality exhaled a fine, sweet, natural redolence that
savored of the ocean and great winds.
One day, as he saw her handling a huge water-barrel by the chines
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