| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: aspect--had been made pleasant, and even lovely, by the
spontaneous grace with which these homely duties seemed to
bloom out of her character; so that labor, while she dealt with
it, had the easy and flexible charm of play. Angels do not toil,
but let their good works grow out of them; and so did Phoebe.
The two relatives--the young maid and the old one--found time
before nightfall, in the intervals of trade, to make rapid advances
towards affection and confidence. A recluse, like Hepzibah,
usually displays remarkable frankness, and at least temporary
affability, on being absolutely cornered, and brought to the point
of personal intercourse; like the angel whom Jacob wrestled with,
House of Seven Gables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: and that I could not do. Flour is one thing, and friendship is
another, and they should not be confused. Why, the words are spelt
differently, and mean quite different things. Everybody can see
that.'
"'How well you talk'! said the Miller's Wife, pouring herself out a
large glass of warm ale; 'really I feel quite drowsy. It is just
like being in church.'
"'Lots of people act well,' answered the Miller; 'but very few
people talk well, which shows that talking is much the more
difficult thing of the two, and much the finer thing also'; and he
looked sternly across the table at his little son, who felt so
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: to Vallance's sleeve, and even in the dim glow of the
Broadway lights the latest disinherited one could see
drops on the other's brow wrung out by some strange
terror.
"Why, I'm afraid something will happen to me be-
fore morning. I don't know what -- something to
keep me from coming into that money. I'm afraid a
tree will fall on me -- I'm afraid a cab will run over
me, or a stone drop on me from a housetop, or some-
thing. I never was afraid before. I've sat in this
park a hundred nights as calm as a graven image
The Voice of the City |
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 Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis: simply laying onto my forehead mashing one of my
dern eyeballs through a little hole in the grating.
But I couldn't, even that way, see fur enough to one
side to see how HE looked.
"The truth is," says Colonel Tom, trying it agin,
"that I--well, Lucy, the child may be dead, but he
didn't die when you thought he did."
There was a flash of hope flared into her face that
I hated to see come there. Because when it died
out in a minute, as I expected it would have to,
it looked to me like it might take all her life out
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