| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: that her secret was suspected; and with an assumption of unconcern
that would have made Ann Eliza smile if the pang had been less
piercing, the younger sister prepared to confess herself.
"What are you so busy about?" she said impatiently, as Ann
Eliza, beneath the gas-jet, fumbled for the matches. "Ain't you
even got time to ask me if I'd had a pleasant day?"
Ann Eliza turned with a quiet smile. "I guess I don't have
to. Seems to me it's pretty plain you have."
"Well, I don't know. I don't know HOW I feel--
it's all so queer. I almost think I'd like to scream."
"I guess you're tired."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: the waves in fast and high. Ewart had his share in that. More
and more acutely and unmistakably did my perception of beauty,
form and sound, my desire for adventure, my desire for
intercourse, converge on this central and commanding business of
the individual life. I had to get me a mate.
I began to fall in love faintly with girls I passed in the
street, with women who sat before me in trains, with girl
fellow-students, with ladies in passing carriages, with
loiterers at the corners, with neat-handed waitresses in shops
and tea-rooms, with pictures even of girls and women. On my rare
visits to the theatre I always became exalted, and found the
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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 King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: Well, lords, we have not got that which we have;
'T is not enough our foes are this time fled,
Being opposites of such repairing nature.
YORK.
I know our safety is to follow them;
For, as I hear, the king is fled to London,
To call a present court of parliament.
Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth.--
What says Lord Warwick? shall we after them?
WARWICK.
After them! nay, before them, if we can.
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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 The Market-Place by Harold Frederic: was in the face of Lady Cressage that he seemed to discern
the most genuine interest.
Why should she frighten him, then, by daylight? The
whimsical theory that the wine at dinner had given him
a spurious courage occurred to him. He shrugged his
shoulders at it, and, with his hands in his pockets,
turned toward the stables.
The stable-yard is, from some points of view,
the prettiest thing about Hadlow. There is a big,
uneven, grass-grown space, in the centre of which,
from a slight mound, springs an aged oak of tremendous
The Market-Place |
