| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: a little wiser than he was about some others. You can get
along perfectly with him, if you only keep your courage up,
and don't show the white feather."
"Yes, I know; but I've had it pretty well taken out of me,"
commented Alice. "It used to come easy to me to be cheerful
and resolute and all that; but it's different now."
Sister Soulsby stole a swift glance at the unsuspecting
face of her companion which was not all admiration,
but her voice remained patiently affectionate.
"Oh, that'll all come back to you, right enough.
You'll have your hands full, you know, finding a house,
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: if thou hast lost thy comeliness? Stay with us, and I will not
mock at thee.'
And he said to her, 'Nay, but I have been cruel to my mother, and
as a punishment has this evil been sent to me. Wherefore I must go
hence, and wander through the world till I find her, and she give
me her forgiveness.'
So he ran away into the forest and called out to his mother to come
to him, but there was no answer. All day long he called to her,
and, when the sun set he lay down to sleep on a bed of leaves, and
the birds and the animals fled from him, for they remembered his
cruelty, and he was alone save for the toad that watched him, and
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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 Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Davis: closed the door. There was a certain novel air of
decision and youth in her figure and movements. "I am
going to make a change, Clara," she said. "I have worked
for others long enough. I am going away now, alone. I
will be free. I will live my own life--at last." Her
eyes shone with exultation.
"And---- Where are you going?" stammered Miss Vance,
dismayed.
"I don't know. There is so much--it has all been waiting
so long for me. There are the cathedrals--and the
mountains. Or the Holy Land. Perhaps I may try to write
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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 La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: me! then think of your poor mother who died smiling before your eyes,
hiding her sufferings from you, and you will take courage to endure
the ills of life."
She choked back her tears, and tried to make the boy understand the
mechanism of existence, the value of money, the standing and
consideration that it gives, and its bearing on social position; the
honorable means of gaining a livelihood, and the necessity of a
training. Then she told him that one of the chief causes of her
sadness and her tears was the thought that, on the morrow of her
death, he and Marie would be left almost resourceless, with but a
slender stock of money, and no friend but God.
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