| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: North Tarrytown, if a little boy drops an egg on
his way home from the grocery, if a casual house or
two drops into the subway, if a lady loses a nickel
through a hole in the lisle thread, if the police drag
a telephone and a racing chart forth from an Ibsen
Society reading-room, if Senator Depew or Mr.
Chuck Connors walks out to take the air - if any of
these incidents or accidents takes place, you will see
the mad, irresistible rush of the "rubber" tribe to
the spot.
The importance of the event does not count. They
The Voice of the City |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: smile, "that a Parisian would be capable of following her lover all
over the world?"
"Oh, madame, let us understand each other. She would follow him to a
desert and live in a tent but not to sit in a shop."
A disdainful gesture completed her meaning. Thus, under the influence
of her disastrous education, Emile for the second time killed her
budding happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien's
apparent indifference, and a woman's smile, had wrung from her one of
those sarcasms whose treacherous zest always let her astray.
"Mademoiselle," said Longueville, in a low voice, under cover of the
noise made by the ladies as they rose from the table, "no one will
|
