| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: could be wholly bearable if, in the midst of it, one felt
cherished. Well, she would go through it alone as she had gone
through everything else since their marriage. She would try to
forget Martin. She WOULD forget him. She must. She would keep her
mind fixed on the deep joy so soon to be hers. Had she not chosen
to suffer of her own free will, because the little creature that
could be won only through it was worth so much more than anything
else the world had to offer? She imagined the baby already
arrived and visualized him as she hoped her child might be at two
years. Suppose he were in a burning house, would she have the
courage to rescue him? What would be the limit of her endurance
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: when I tell her what we want.
"'Mrs. Trotter,' says I, 'Andy Tucker and me have computed the
calculation that 3,000 men in this broad and unfair country will
endeavor to secure your fair hand and ostensible money and property
through our advertisement. Out of that number something like thirty
hundred will expect to give you in exchange, if they should win you,
the carcass of a lazy and mercenary loafer, a failure in life, a
swindler and contemptible fortune seeker.
"'Me and Andy,' says I, 'propose to teach these preyers upon society a
lesson. It was with difficulty,' says I, 'that me and Andy could
refrain from forming a corporation under the title of the Great Moral
|
