| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: often hasty in their resolutions, and not more sudden in forming than
unsteady in keeping them. I should not be surprised if he were to change
his mind at last, and not go." She soon afterwards left the room. I trust,
however, my dear mother, that we have no reason to fear an alteration of
his present plan; things have gone too far. They must have quarrelled, and
about Frederica, too. Her calmness astonishes me. What delight will be
yours in seeing him again; in seeing him still worthy your esteem, still
capable of forming your happiness! When I next write I shall be able to
tell you that Sir James is gone, Lady Susan vanquished, and Frederica at
peace. We have much to do, but it shall be done. I am all impatience to
hear how this astonishing change was effected. I finish as I began, with
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: mournfully from one of the window ledges.
"There's where our sign hung once," said Trina. She turned
her head and looked down Polk Street towards where the Other
Dentist had his rooms, and there, overhanging the street
from his window, newly furbished and brightened, hung the
huge tooth, her birthday present to her husband, flashing
and glowing in the white glare of the electric lights like a
beacon of defiance and triumph.
"Ah, no; ah, no," whispered Trina, choking back a sob.
"Life isn't so gay. But I wouldn't mind, no I wouldn't mind
anything, if only Mac was home all right." She got up from
McTeague |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: handiwork of man--save only the torn bosom of the hillside at his feet. The
man looked long and carefully. Once, far down his own canyon, he thought he
saw in the air a faint hint of smoke. He looked again and decided that it was
the purple haze of the hills made dark by a convolution of the canyon wall at
its back.
"Hey, you, Mr. Pocket!" he called down into the canyon. "Stand out from under!
I'm a-comin', Mr. Pocket! I'm a-comin'!"
The heavy brogans on the man's feet made him appear clumsy-footed, but he
swung down from the giddy height as lightly and airily as a mountain goat. A
rock, turning under his foot on the edge of the precipice, did not disconcert
him. He seemed to know the precise time required for the turn to culminate in
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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 The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: Is the fellow to that to be found in literature, ancient or modern,
foreign or domestic, living or dead, drunk or sober? One notices
how fine and grand it sounds. We know that if it was loftily uttered,
it got a noble burst of applause from the villagers; yet there isn't
a ray of sense in it, or meaning to it.
McClintock finished his education at Yale in 1843, and came to
Hartford on a visit that same year. I have talked with men who at
that time talked with him, and felt of him, and knew he was real.
One needs to remember that fact and to keep fast hold of it;
it is the only way to keep McClintock's book from undermining one's
faith in McClintock's actuality.
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