| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: to Eton to-morrow, and then, if you behave yourself, no one will
annoy you.'
'It is absurd asking me to behave myself,' he answered, looking
round in astonishment at the pretty little girl who had ventured to
address him, 'quite absurd. I must rattle my chains, and groan
through keyholes, and walk about at night, if that is what you
mean. It is my only reason for existing.'
'It is no reason at all for existing, and you know you have been
very wicked. Mrs. Umney told us, the first day we arrived here,
that you had killed your wife.'
'Well, I quite admit it,' said the Ghost petulantly, 'but it was a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: when in London as in a great degree the cause of her unhappiness,
tho' the mother was good enough to think the fault more her own
than mine, as she had prevented our marrying before I went thither,
and persuaded the other match in my absence. Our mutual affection
was revived, but there were now great objections to our union.
The match was indeed looked upon as invalid, a preceding wife being
said to be living in England; but this could not easily be prov'd,
because of the distance; and, tho' there was a report of his death,
it was not certain. Then, tho' it should be true, he had left
many debts, which his successor might be call'd upon to pay.
We ventured, however, over all these difficulties, and I took her
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: in-inside{sic} the ugly thing. Well, every time he
showed signs of stoppin', one of the boys would up with
a question, and start him goin' again. He knew
everybody, an' everything, an' everywhere. All of a
sudden one of the boys points to the Roosevelt signature
on the wall--the one he scrawled up there along with all
the other celebrities first time he was entertained by
the Press Club boys. Well this guy, he looked at the
name for a minute. `Roosevelt?' he says, slow. `Oh, yes.
Seems t' me I've heard of him.' Well, at that the boys
yelled. Thought it was a good joke, seein' that Ted had
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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 Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: abominable; do you not think so? And besides, the pot is of
such an irregular shape it will not stand on the table."
"Suppose we were to make it level?"
"To be sure; but with what?"
"With this knife."
"And the teal, with what shall we cut that up? Do you not,
by chance, mean to touch the teal?"
"Certainly."
"Well, then ---- "
"Wait."
And the poet rummaged in his pocket, and drew out a piece of
Ten Years Later |
