| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: one. Then we went in. Having lived a normal, busy life, the
theater in the afternoon is to me about on a par with ice-cream
for breakfast. Up on the stage a very stout woman in short pink
skirts, with a smile that McKnight declared looked like a slash in
a roll of butter, was singing nasally, with a laborious kick at the
end of each verse. Johnson, two rows ahead, went to sleep.
McKnight prodded me with his elbow.
"Look at the first box to the right," he said, in a stage whisper.
"I want you to come over at the end of this act."
It was the first time I had seen her since I put her in the cab at
Baltimore. Outwardly I presume I was calm, for no one turned to
The Man in Lower Ten |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: there she was stealthily clawing her way up the nearest tree. Tattine stood
aghast, but Patrick's "whisht" kept her still for a moment, while the cat made
its way along one of the branches. Tattine knowing well the particular nest
she was seeking, made one bound for her with her rake, and with such a scream
as certainly to scare little Black-and-white out of at least one of the nine
lives to which she is supposed to be entitled. But pussy was too swift and
swiftly scrambled to the very topmost twig that would hold her weight, while
Tattine danced about in helpless rage on the grass beneath the tree. "Tattine
is having a fit," thought little Black-and-white, scared half to death and
quite ready to have a little fit of her own, to judge from her wild eyes and
bristling tail.
|
