| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: part of the world, anyway; they had to battle with the compass to
make it serve, an' everything seemed to go wrong. Gaffett had
worked it out in his own mind that they was all common ghosts, but
the conditions were unusual favorable for seeing them. He was
always talking about the Ge'graphical Society, but he never took
proper steps, as I viewed it now, and stayed right there at the
mission. He was a good deal crippled, and thought they'd confine
him in some jail of a hospital. He said he was waiting to find the
right men to tell, somebody bound north. Once in a while they
stopped there to leave a mail or something. He was set in his
notions, and let two or three proper explorin' expeditions go by
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: important a matter took from me the power of speaking with any clearness,
She thanked me, however, most affectionately, for my kind concern in the
welfare of herself and daughter; and then said: "I am not apt to deal in
professions, my dear Mrs. Vernon, and I never had the convenient talent of
affecting sensations foreign to my heart; and therefore I trust you will
believe me when I declare, that much as I had heard in your praise before I
knew you, I had no idea that I should ever love you as I now do; and I must
further say that your friendship towards me is more particularly gratifying
because I have reason to believe that some attempts were made to prejudice
you against me. I only wish that they, whoever they are, to whom I am
indebted for such kind intentions, could see the terms on which we now are
Lady Susan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: reeled, and I knew no more.
Chapter VII.
THE FIGHT IN THE DARK.
I returned to consciousness with a sickening sensation of
nausea and unreality. Only my brain was alive; my entire body was
numb and as though paralyzed. Still darkness and silence, for all
my senses told me I might have been still in the spot where I had
fallen.
Then I tried to move my arms, and found that my hands and feet
were firmly bound. I strained at the thongs, making some slight
sound; and immediately I heard a whisper but a few feet away:
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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 The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: wing. But Dominic had his bearings. His voice came to me from
forward, in a just audible cry:
"Now, signorino!"
I bore on the tiller, as instructed before. Again I heard him
faintly, and then I had only to hold her straight. No ship ran so
joyously to her death before. She rose and fell, as if floating in
space, and darted forward, whizzing like an arrow. Dominic,
stooping under the foot of the foresail, reappeared, and stood
steadying himself against the mast, with a raised forefinger in an
attitude of expectant attention. A second before the shock his arm
fell down by his side. At that I set my teeth. And then -
The Mirror of the Sea |
