| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: She turned at the threshold and shook her head rather sadly as
she saw the imprint of the day's cares on the young pastor's
face.
"Yo' mus' be pow'ful tired," she said.
"No, no; not at all. Good night, Mandy!"
She closed the door behind her, and Douglas was alone. He gazed
absently at the pages of his unfinished sermon as he tapped his
idle pen on the desk. "The show has got to go on," he repeated,
and far up the hillside with the slow- moving wagons, Jim and
Toby looked with unseeing eyes into the dim, star-lit distance,
and echoed the thought: "The show has got to go on."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from To-morrow by Joseph Conrad: head in the palms of her hands. "My word!" he
continued, with an invisible half-smile on his lips.
"I have a great mind to stop. . . ."
Her elbows were trembling violently.
"For a week," he finished without a pause.
She clapped her hands to her face.
He came up quite close, and took hold of her
wrists gently. She felt his breath on her ear.
"It's a scrape I am in--this, and it is you that
must see me through." He was trying to uncover
her face. She resisted. He let her go then, and
To-morrow |
