| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: and just worked at my scheme. It struck me at once that I must
find a way of getting to Wrenfield and back in a night--and that
led to the idea of a motor. A motor--that never occurred to you?
You wonder where I got the money, I suppose. Well, I had a
thousand or so put by, and I nosed around till I found what I
wanted--a second-hand racer. I knew how to drive a car, and I
tried the thing and found it was all right. Times were bad, and
I bought it for my price, and stored it away. Where? Why, in
one of those no-questions-asked garages where they keep motors
that are not for family use. I had a lively cousin who had put
me up to that dodge, and I looked about till I found a queer hole
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: mother and all in authority; how you sin against your neighbor
with anger, hatred and evil words; how you are tempted to
unchastity, covetousness and injustice in word and deed against
your neighbor; and you will doubtless find that you are full of
all need and misery, and have reason enough to weep even drops
of blood, if you could.
X. But I know well that many are so foolish as not to want to ask
for such things, unless they first be conscious that they are
pure, and believe that God hears no one who is a sinner. All this
is the work of those false preachers, who teach men to begin, not
with faith and trust in God's favor, but with their own works.
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