| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: others were attempting to draw him out the while they
strove desperately but unavailingly to keep their eyes
from the two bulging sidepockets of their guest's coat.
Soup Face, who had been assiduously communing
with a pint flask, leaned close to Columbus Blackie, plac-
ing his whiskers within an inch or so of the other's nose
as was his habit when addressing another, and whis-
pered, relative to the pearl necklace: "Not a cent less
'n fifty thou, bo!"
"Fertheluvomike!" ejaculated Blackie, drawing back
and wiping a palm quickly across his lips. "Get a plum-
 The Oakdale Affair |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: to the Great Frogman! No one else knows so much as I; no one else is
so grand, so magnificent!"
"If you know so much," she retorted, "why don't you know where your
dishpan is instead of chasing around the country after it?"
"Presently," he answered, "I am going where it is, but just now I am
traveling and have had no breakfast. Therefore I honor you by asking
you for something to eat."
"Oho! The Great Frogman is hungry as any tramp, is he? Then pick up
these sticks and help me to build the fire," said the woman
contemptuously.
"Me! The Great Frogman pick up sticks?" he exclaimed in horror. "In
 The Lost Princess of Oz |