| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: you to develop it."
The next morning Mr. Uxbridge had an interview with Aunt Eliza
before he saw me.
When we were alone I asked him how her eccentricities affected
him; he could not but consider her violent, prejudiced, warped, and
whimsical. I told him that I had been taught to accept all that she
did on this basis. Would this explain to him my silence in regard
to her?
"Can you endure to live with her in Bond Street for the present,
or would you rather return to Waterbury?"
"She desires my company while she is in Newport only. I have
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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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: menace.
With a single bound he cleared the pool, and then sped out of the glade. He
urged the dog on Girty's trail, and followed the eager beast toward the west.
As he disappeared, a long, low sound like the sigh of the night wind swelled
and moaned through the gloom.
Chapter XXIV.
When the first ruddy rays of the rising sun crimsoned the eastern sky, Wetzel
slowly wound his way down a rugged hill far west of Beautiful Spring. A white
dog, weary and footsore, limped by his side. Both man and beast showed
evidence of severe exertion.
The hunter stopped in a little cave under a projecting stone, and, laying
The Spirit of the Border |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: and not to prosecute them is impiety. And please to consider, Socrates,
what a notable proof I will give you of the truth of my words, a proof
which I have already given to others:--of the principle, I mean, that the
impious, whoever he may be, ought not to go unpunished. For do not men
regard Zeus as the best and most righteous of the gods?--and yet they admit
that he bound his father (Cronos) because he wickedly devoured his sons,
and that he too had punished his own father (Uranus) for a similar reason,
in a nameless manner. And yet when I proceed against my father, they are
angry with me. So inconsistent are they in their way of talking when the
gods are concerned, and when I am concerned.
SOCRATES: May not this be the reason, Euthyphro, why I am charged with
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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 Captain Stormfield by Mark Twain: in the distance. Yes, it was a mistake, Peters - that remark of
mine. I don't reckon I'll ever get over being sorry about it. I'd
'a' beat the bully of the firmament if I'd kept my mouth shut.
But I've wandered a little off the track of my tale; I'll get back
on my course again. Now you see what kind of speed I was making.
So, as I said, when I had been tearing along this way about thirty
years I begun to get uneasy. Oh, it was pleasant enough, with a
good deal to find out, but then it was kind of lonesome, you know.
Besides, I wanted to get somewhere. I hadn't shipped with the idea
of cruising forever. First off, I liked the delay, because I
judged I was going to fetch up in pretty warm quarters when I got
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