| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: a man's purse, but by his character that he is rich or poor. Barney
will be poor, Alick will be poor, Mackay will be poor; let them go
where they will, and wreck all the governments under heaven, they
will be poor until they die.
Nothing is perhaps more notable in the average workman than his
surprising idleness, and the candour with which he confesses to the
failing. It has to me been always something of a relief to find the
poor, as a general rule, so little oppressed with work. I can in
consequence enjoy my own more fortunate beginning with a better
grace. The other day I was living with a farmer in America, an old
frontiersman, who had worked and fought, hunted and farmed, from his
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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 Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: will send a momentary chill to the heart of the most intrepid.
Cleggett found Lady Agatha, her own troubles for the time
forgotten, in the forecastle. She had lighted a lamp and was
bending over the wounded man, whose coat and waistcoat she had
removed. His clothing was a sop of blood. They cut his shirt and
undershirt from him. Kuroki brought water and the medicine chest
and surgical outfit with which Cleggett had provided the Jasper
B. They examined his wounds, Lady Agatha, with a fine
seriousness and a deft touch which claimed Cleggett's admiration,
washing them herself and proceeding to stop the flow of blood.
"Oh, I am not an altogether useless person," she said, with a
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: "She has promised to come on the twentieth."
"Is Monmouth to be there, too?"
"Oh, yes, Harry."
"He bores me dreadfully, almost as much as he bores her. She is very clever,
too clever for a woman. She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness.
It is the feet of clay that make the gold of the image precious. Her feet
are very pretty, but they are not feet of clay. White porcelain feet,
if you like. They have been through the fire, and what fire does not destroy,
it hardens. She has had experiences."
"How long has she been married?" asked Dorian.
"An eternity, she tells me. I believe, according to the peerage,
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
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 Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: asked.
Muller shook his head. "We knew it through Miss Langen herself."
"She has spoken to no one for over ten days."
"But you let her throw her notebook out of the window of the cab."
"Ah - "
"There, you see, you should not have let that happen."
Drops of perspiration stood out on Langen's forehead. Until now,
perhaps, he had had some possible hope of escape. It was useless
now, he knew.
As calmly as he had spoken thus far Muller continued. "For twenty
years I have been studying the hearts of criminals like yourself.
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