| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: wife, we shall catch him now."
A Voice. "How?"
The Tanner. "Easily. The two have not quoted the remark in exactly
the same words. You would have noticed that, if there hadn't been a
considerable stretch of time and an exciting quarrel inserted
between the two readings."
A Voice. "Name the difference."
The Tanner. "The word VERY is in Billson's note, and not in the
other."
Many Voices. "That's so--he's right!"
The Tanner. "And so, if the Chair will examine the test-remark in
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: semicircle of a beach gleamed faintly, like an illusion.
There was not a light, not a stir, not a sound. The mys-
terious East faced me, perfumed like a flower, silent like
death, dark like a grave.
"And I sat weary beyond expression, exulting like a
conqueror, sleepless and entranced as if before a pro-
found, a fateful enigma.
"A splashing of oars, a measured dip reverberating
on the level of water, intensified by the silence of the
shore into loud claps, made me jump up. A boat, a
European boat, was coming in. I invoked the name
Youth |
