| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: calculations.
She began to undress without ringing for her maid, whom she had
sent to bed. She had been long enough in bondage to other
people's pleasure to be considerate of those who depended on
hers, and in her bitter moods it sometimes struck her that she
and her maid were in the same position, except that the latter
received her wages more regularly.
As she sat before the mirror brushing her hair, her face looked
hollow and pale, and she was frightened by two little lines near
her mouth, faint flaws in the smooth curve of the cheek.
"Oh, I must stop worrying!" she exclaimed. "Unless it's the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: a field get up and achieve. Everywhere one sees women
over-wrought, over-stimulated, eager, tense. When there appears
one who has herself in leash, balanced, tolerant, poised, sane,
composed, she restores your faith in things. You lean on her,
spiritually. I know I need you more than you need me, Emma. And
I know you won't love me the less for that. There--that's about
all for this evening."
"I think," breathed Emma McChesney in a choked little voice,
"that that's about--enough."
Two days before the date set for their very quiet wedding, they
told the heads of office and workroom. Office and workroom,
Emma McChesney & Co. |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: power to take the blood from her cheeks like
that. Perhaps he did not remember--perhaps
he had never noticed! Emil was already at the
other end of the hall, walking about with the
shoulder-motion he had acquired among the
Mexicans, studying the floor with his intent,
deep-set eyes. Marie began to take down and
fold her shawls. She did not glance up again.
The young people drifted to the other end of the
hall where the guitar was sounding. In a mo-
ment she heard Emil and Raoul singing:--
O Pioneers! |
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 The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: young world going by a-wheel, and going fast. Much that legitimately
belonged to it, and much that did not in the laxness of the new code,
he laid to the automobile. And doggedly he refused to buy one.
"We can always get a taxicab," was his imperturbable answer to Jim.
"I pay pretty good-sized taxi bills without unpleasant discussion.
I know you pretty well too, Jim. Better than you know yourself.
And if you had a car, you'd try your best to break your neck in it."
Now and then Jim got a car, however. Sometimes he rented one,
sometimes he cajoled Nina into lending him hers.
"A fellow looks a fool without one," he would say to her. "Girls
expect to be taken out. It's part of the game."
The Breaking Point |
