| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: she was thoroughly feminine. She would be passive (and that does
not mean inanimate) in the circumstances, where the mere fact of
being a woman was enough to give her an occult and supreme
significance. And she would be enduring which is the essence of
woman's visible, tangible power. Of that I was certain. Had she
not endured already? Yet it is so true that the germ of destruction
lies in wait for us mortals, even at the very source of our
strength, that one may die of too much endurance as well as of too
little of it.
Such was my train of thought. And I was mindful also of my first
view of her--toying or perhaps communing in earnest with the
Chance |
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 Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: "You'd sure be a swell nigger wid dat on, Honey," she chuckled to
herself. "Wouldn't dem deacons holler if dey done see dat?"
The picture of the deacons' astonishment at such a spectacle so
grew upon Mandy, that she was obliged to cover her generous mouth
to shut in her convulsive laughter, lest it awaken the little
girl in the bed. She crossed to the old-fashioned bureau which
for many months had stood unused against the wall. The drawer
creaked as she opened it to lay away the gay, spangled gown.
"It'll be a mighty long time afore she puts on dem tings agin,"
she said, with a doubtful shake of her large, round head.
Then she went back to the chair and picked up Polly's sandals,
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