| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from One Basket by Edna Ferber: When the other girls teased her about this obvious state of
affairs, something fine and contemptuous welled up in her.
"Him! Why, say, he ought to work in a pickle factory instead of
a watchworks. All he needs is a little dill and a handful of
grape leaves to make him good eatin' as a relish."
And she thought of Chuck Mory, perched on the high seat of the
American Express truck, hatless, sunburned, stockily muscular,
clattering down Winnebago Street on his way to the depot and the
7:50 train.
Something about the clear simplicity and uprightness of the firm
little figure appealed to Nap Ballou. He used to regard her
One Basket |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: It was the last thing I would willingly have done.
But do not be unhappy, Eleanor. An engagement, you know,
must be kept. I am only sorry it was not recollected sooner,
that I might have written home. But it is of very
little consequence."
"I hope, I earnestly hope, that to your real safety it
will be of none; but to everything else it is of the greatest
consequence: to comfort, appearance, propriety, to your family,
to the world. Were your friends, the Allens, still in Bath,
you might go to them with comparative ease; a few hours
would take you there; but a journey of seventy miles,
Northanger Abbey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Euthydemus by Plato: present with us?
He assented.
And should we be happy by reason of the presence of good things, if they
profited us not, or if they profited us?
If they profited us, he said.
And would they profit us, if we only had them and did not use them? For
example, if we had a great deal of food and did not eat, or a great deal of
drink and did not drink, should we be profited?
Certainly not, he said.
Or would an artisan, who had all the implements necessary for his work, and
did not use them, be any the better for the possession of them? For
|
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 Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane: timid when he was but a lad had increased with his growth and
education at the ratio of ten to one. It, combined with the sneer
upon his mouth, told mankind that there was nothing in space which
could appall him. Maggie marvelled at him and surrounded him with
greatness. She vaguely tried to calculate the altitude of the
pinnacle from which he must have looked down upon her.
"I met a chump deh odder day way up in deh city," he said. "I
was goin' teh see a frien' of mine. When I was a-crossin' deh
street deh chump runned plump inteh me, an' den he turns aroun' an'
says, 'Yer insolen' ruffin,' he says, like dat. 'Oh, gee,' I says,
'oh, gee, go teh hell and git off deh eart',' I says, like dat.
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets |
