| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: 'It's a breach of promise case,' he said at last, in a low voice.
'I--I am threatened with a breach of promise case.' Here, in
desperate quest of inspiration, he made a clutch at his beard;
his fingers closed upon the unfamiliar smoothness of a shaven
chin; and with that, hope and courage (if such expressions could
ever have been appropriate in the case of Pitman) conjointly
fled. He shook Michael roughly. 'Wake up!' he cried, with genuine
irritation in his tones. 'I cannot do it, and you know I can't.'
'You must excuse my friend,' said Michael; 'he's no hand as a
narrator of stirring incident. The case is simple,' he went on.
'My friend is a man of very strong passions, and accustomed to a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: and "Part II."
"Oh, Alec, I believe I'm tired of college," he said sadly, as
they walked the dusk together.
"I think I am, too, in a way."
"All I'd like would be a little home in the country, some warm
country, and a wife, and just enough to do to keep from rotting."
"Me, too."
"I'd like to quit."
"What does your girl say?"
"Oh!" Amory gasped in horror. "She wouldn't think of marrying ...
This Side of Paradise |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: critic has not yet learned to place; so that their
misunderstanding was a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, there
was no hesitation behind the curtain. When it went up at last, a
stage much too small for the company was revealed to an
auditorium much too small for the audience. But the players,
though it was impossible for them to forget their own discomfort,
at once made the spectators forget theirs. It certainly was a
model audience, responsive from the first line to the last; and
it got no less than it deserved in return.
I grieve to add that the second performance, given for the
edification of the London Press and of those members of the Stage
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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 Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: better than ever.
Martin had the most improved farm in the neighborhood; he was
looked up to by everyone as one of the most intelligent men in
the county, and his earnings were swelling, going into better
stock and the surplus into mortgages which he accumulated with
surprising rapidity. Occasionally, he would wonder why he was
working so hard, saving so assiduously and investing so
consistently. His growing fortune seemed to mean little now that
his affluence was thoroughly established. For whom was he
working? he would ask himself. For the life of him, he could not
answer. Surely not for his Rag-weed of Sharon. Nellie? She was
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