| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: "So much the better. Bring some fruit, too, and a pate or a wing
of chicken; something or other, at once. I am hungry."
Need I tell you the impression which this scene made upon me, or
can you not imagine it?
"You are going to have supper with me," she said to me;
"meanwhile, take a book. I am going into my dressing-room for a
moment."
She lit the candles of a candelabra, opened a door at the foot of
the bed, and disappeared.
I began to think over this poor girl's life, and my love for her
was mingled with a great pity. I walked to and fro in the room,
 Camille |
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 Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: flag, looking like a flat-nosed, blue-gummed Igorrote. Kunz's soda
water receipts swelled to double their usual size, and the girls'
complexions were something awful that summer. I've known Nellie
Donovan to take as many as three ice cream sodas and two phosphates
a day when Eddie was mixing. He had a way of throwing in a
good-natured smile, and an easy flow of conversation with every
drink. While indulging in a little airy persiflage the girls had
a great little trick of pursing their mouths into rosebud shapes
over their soda straws, and casting their eyes upward at Eddie.
They all knew the trick, and its value, so that at night Eddie's
dreams were haunted by whole rows of rosily pursed lips, and seas
 Buttered Side Down |