| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Study of a Woman by Honore de Balzac: Joseph became stolid. Like a statue in some cathedral porch, he stood
motionless, entirely absorbed in the labors of imagination. Suddenly
he smiled idiotically, and said:--
"Monsieur, one was for the Marquise de Listomere, the other was for
Monsieur's lawyer."
"You are certain of what you say?"
Joseph was speechless. I saw plainly that I must interfere, as I
happened to be again in Eugene's apartment.
"Joseph is right," I said.
Eugene turned and looked at me.
"I read the addresses quite involuntarily, and--"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: than his accent, was faintly American, and Mary, at the familiar
note, looked at him more closely. The brim of his soft felt hat
cast a shade on his face, which, thus obscured, wore to her
short-sighted gaze a look of seriousness, as of a person arriving
"on business," and civilly but firmly aware of his rights.
Past experience had made Mary equally sensible to such claims;
but she was jealous of her husband's morning hours, and doubtful
of his having given any one the right to intrude on them.
"Have you an appointment with Mr. Boyne?" she asked.
He hesitated, as if unprepared for the question.
"Not exactly an appointment," he replied.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: not know how much they might be charred down below.
It was nearly calm, but a long swell ran from the west
and made her roll. They might go at any moment. We
looked at them with apprehension. One could not fore-
see which way they would fall.
"Then we retreated aft and looked about us. The
deck was a tangle of planks on edge, of planks on end,
of splinters, of ruined woodwork. The masts rose from
that chaos like big trees above a matted undergrowth.
The interstices of that mass of wreckage were full of
something whitish, sluggish, stirring--of something that
Youth |
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 Aesop's Fables by Aesop: and swelled and swelled and swelled. And then he said: "I'm sure
the Ox is not as big asBut at this moment he burst.
Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction.
Androcles
A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled
to the forest. As he was wandering about there he came upon a
Lion lying down moaning and groaning. At first he turned to flee,
but finding that the Lion did not pursue him, he turned back and
went up to him. As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which
was all swollen and bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge
thorn had got into it, and was causing all the pain. He pulled
Aesop's Fables |
