| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: white cotton dress with such large red spots on it and so many that they
made you shudder, white shoes and a leghorn turned up under the brim with
poppies. Of course she wore gloves, white ones, stained at the fastenings
with iron-mould, and in one hand she carried a very dashed-looking sunshade
which she referred to as her "perishall."
Beryl, sitting in the window, fanning her freshly-washed hair, thought she
had never seen such a guy. If Alice had only blacked her face with a piece
of cork before she started out, the picture would have been complete. And
where did a girl like that go to in a place like this? The heart-shaped
Fijian fan beat scornfully at that lovely bright mane. She supposed Alice
had picked up some horrible common larrikin and they'd go off into the bush
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the
present day will be supplied by the morrow, attend to the history
of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.
Rasselas was the fourth son of the mighty Emperor in whose
dominions the father of waters begins his course - whose bounty
pours down the streams of plenty, and scatters over the world the
harvests of Egypt.
According to the custom which has descended from age to age among
the monarchs of the torrid zone, Rasselas was confined in a private
palace, with the other sons and daughters of Abyssinian royalty,
till the order of succession should call him to the throne.
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