| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: earth attainable. And Marija is just fighting drunk when there come to her
ears the facts about the villains who have not paid that night. Marija goes
on the warpath straight off, without even the preliminary of a good cursing,
and when she is pulled off it is with the coat collars of two villains in
her hands. Fortunately, the policeman is disposed to be reasonable, and so
it is not Marija who is flung out of the place.
All this interrupts the music for not more than a minute or two. Then again
the merciless tune begins--the tune that has been played for the last
half-hour without one single change. It is an American tune this time,
one which they have picked up on the streets; all seem to know the words
of it--or, at any rate, the first line of it, which they hum to themselves,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "Then I inspected the rooms in the house off Washington Circle.
I - I made some discoveries, Mr. Blakeley. For one thing, our man
there is left-handed." He looked around for our approval. "There
was a small cushion on the dresser, and the scarf pins in it had
been stuck in with the left hand."
"Somebody may have twisted the cushion," I objected, but he looked
hurt, and I desisted.
"There is only one discrepancy," he admitted, "but it troubles me.
According to Mrs. Carter, at the farmhouse, our man wore gaudy
pajamas, while I found here only the most severely plain
night-shirts."
The Man in Lower Ten |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde: of us who are but flesh and blood is a sin, and to kill a Duke goes
being near against the law.
FIRST SOLDIER
Well, well, he was a wicked Duke.
SECOND SOLDIER
And so he should not have touched him; if one meddles with wicked
people, one is like to be tainted with their wickedness.
THIRD SOLDIER
Ay, that is true. How old is the prisoner?
SECOND SOLDIER
Old enough to do wrong, and not old enough to be wise.
|
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 Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: for sobbing; vague, incoherent sounds broke from her parched throat.
" 'You dare to talk of penitence after all that you said to Ernest!'
exclaimed the dying man, shaking off the Countess, who lay groveling
over his feet.--'You turn me to ice!' he added, and there was
something appalling in the indifference with which he uttered the
words. 'You have been a bad daughter; you have been a bad wife; you
will be a bad mother.'
"The wretched woman fainted away. The dying man reached his bed and
lay down again, and a few hours later sank into unconsciousness. The
priests came and administered the sacraments.
"At midnight he died; the scene that morning had exhausted his
Gobseck |
