| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: But, disregarding the danger that attends all attempts at subtilty
with Normans, she employed the inventive wit and slyness which Nature
grants to women in opposing the four rivals one against the other. By
thus gaining time, she hoped to come safe and sound to the end of the
national troubles. At this period, the royalists in the interior of
France expected day by day that the Revolution would be ended on the
morrow. This conviction was the ruin of very many of them.
In spite of these difficulties, the countess had maintained her
independence very cleverly until the day when, by an inexplicable
imprudence, she closed her doors to her usual evening visitors. Madame
de Dey inspired so genuine and deep an interest, that the persons who
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: given, so that nothing might be left to take, and I am punished."
I was forced to calm her, to promise never to cause her pain, and to
love her at twenty-one years of age as old men love their youngest
child.
The next day I went early. There were no flowers in the vases of her
gray salon. I rushed into the fields and vineyards to make her two
bouquets; but as I gathered the flowers, one by one, cutting their
long stalks and admiring their beauty, the thought occurred to me that
the colors and foliage had a poetry, a harmony, which meant something
to the understanding while they charmed the eye; just as musical
melodies awaken memories in hearts that are loving and beloved. If
The Lily of the Valley |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane: See? Hully gee, he t'rowed a spittoon true deh front windee. Say,
I taut I'd drop dead. But deh boss, he comes in after an' he says,
'Pete, yehs done jes' right! Yeh've gota keep order an' it's all
right.' See? 'It's all right,' he says. Dat's what he said."
The two held a technical discussion.
"Dat bloke was a dandy," said Pete, in conclusion, "but he
hadn' oughta made no trouble. Dat's what I says teh dem: 'Don'
come in here an' make no trouble,' I says, like dat. 'Don' make no
trouble.' See?"
As Jimmie and his friend exchanged tales descriptive of their
prowess, Maggie leaned back in the shadow. Her eyes dwelt
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets |
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 Bab:A Sub-Deb, Mary Roberts Rinehart by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Before disbanding for the day I made a short speach in the shop,
which was almost emty. I said that it was our intention to show the
members of the Other Sex that we were ready to spring to the
Country's call, and also to assist in recruiting by visiting the
different Milatary Stations and there encouraging those who looked
faint-hearted and not willing to fight.
"Each day," I said, in conclusion, "one of us will be selected by
the Captain, myself, to visit these places and as soon as a man has
signed up, to pin a flower in his buttonhole. As we have but little
money, the tent having cost more than expected, we can use
carnations as not expencive."
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