| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from One Basket by Edna Ferber: road toward him in her tight-fitting black alpaca dress. The
sunset was behind her. Her hair was very golden. In a day of
tiny waists hers could have been spanned by Ben Westerveld's two
hands. He discovered that later. Just now he thought he had
never seen anything so fairylike and dainty, though he did not
put it that way. Ben was not glib of thought or speech.
He knew at once this was the new schoolteacher. He had heard of
her coming, though at the time the conversation had interested
him not at all. Bella knew who he was, too. She had learned the
name and history of every eligible young man in the district two
days after her arrival. That was due partly to her own bold
 One Basket |
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 The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: a grave English voice out of the darkness.
"Quite, Sir Knight," she replied, "and you?"
"Not a scratch, but where is our good friend the
Baron?"
"He lay here upon the floor but a moment since, and
carried a thin long dagger in his hand. Have a care,
Sir Knight, he may even now be upon you."
The knight did not answer, but she heard him mov-
ing boldly about the room. Soon he had found another
lamp and made a light. As its feeble rays slowly pene-
trated the black gloom the girl saw the bodies of the
 The Outlaw of Torn |