| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: box still.
It is many years ago now; I was a girl of fifteen, and I went to visit in a
small up-country town. It was young in those days, and two days' journey
from the nearest village; the population consisted mainly of men. A few
were married, and had their wives and children, but most were single.
There was only one young girl there when I came. She was about seventeen,
fair, and rather fully-fleshed; she had large dreamy blue eyes, and wavy
light hair; full, rather heavy lips, until she smiled; then her face broke
into dimples, and all her white teeth shone. The hotel-keeper may have had
a daughter, and the farmer in the outskirts had two, but we never saw them.
She reigned alone. All the men worshipped her. She was the only woman
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: sight. He had waited at the edge of the clearing for them, and, relieving Jim
of the heavy pack, which he swung slightly over his shoulder, he set a pace
that was most difficult to maintain. The young missionary half led, half
carried Nell over the stones and rough places. Mr. Wells labored in the rear.
"Oh! Jim! Look back! Look back! See if we are pursued!" cried Nell frequently,
with many a earful glance into the dense thickets.
The Indian took a straight course through the woods. He leaped the brooks,
climbed the rough ridges, and swiftly trod the glades that were free of
windfalls. His hurry and utter disregard for the plain trail left behind,
proved his belief in the necessity of placing many miles between the fugitives
and the Village of Peace. Evidently they would be followed, and it would be a
The Spirit of the Border |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: lady, who somewhat resembled her mother, were fixed on her again.
She was sure that her mother did not look like that picture then,
but she was equally sure that she had, some time or other cast
just such a glance at her. The expression of the lady found
something like its counterpart in her memory. Now, her mother
was sick and sad; she seldom smiled. But some time she must have
been a young girl, and then she must have looked like that
portrait. She felt just like asking Mrs. Gordon if that was her
portrait, but she did not dare to do such a thing. While she was
attentively watching the roguish lady's face, her kind friend
entered the room, followed by Grace.
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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 Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: waiting like them: in her gray dress, her worn face, pure and
meek, turned now and then to the sky. A woman much loved by
these silent, resfful people; more silent than they, more
humble, more loving. Waiting: with her eyes turned to hills
higher and purer than these on which she lives,dim and far off
now, but to be reached some day. There may be in her heart some
latent hope to meet there the love denied her here,--that she
shall find him whom she lost, and that then she will not be all-
unworthy. Who blames her? Something is lost in the passage of
every soul from one eternity to the other,--something pure and
beautiful, which might have been and was not: a hope, a talent,
Life in the Iron-Mills |
