| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: "There's one of them, madame, who refuses to go."
"Very well, he must be left alone," she answered quietly.
"If that comes to that they still keep arriving."
"Bah! Tell 'em to wait. When they begin to feel too hungry they'll
be off." Her humor had changed, and she was now delighted to make
people wait about for nothing. A happy thought struck her as very
amusing; she escaped from beneath Francis' hands and ran and bolted
the doors. They might now crowd in there as much as they liked;
they would probably refrain from making a hole through the wall.
Zoe could come in and out through the little doorway leading to the
kitchen. However, the electric bell rang more lustily than ever.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: effectually because his requests for an interview were never answered.
And, indeed, he saw the upstarts of the Empire obtaining some of the
offices reserved, under the old monarchy, for the highest families.
"All is lost!" he exclaimed one morning. "The King has certainly never
been other than a revolutionary. But for Monsieur, who never
derogates, and is some comfort to his faithful adherents, I do not
know what hands the crown of France might not fall into if things are
to go on like this. Their cursed constitutional system is the worst
possible government, and can never suit France. Louis XVIII. and
Monsieur Beugnot spoiled everything at Saint Ouen."
The Count, in despair, was preparing to retire to his estate,
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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 Bucolics by Virgil: What misery have I brought upon my head!-
Loosed on the flowers Siroces to my bane,
And the wild boar upon my crystal springs!
Whom do you fly, infatuate? gods ere now,
And Dardan Paris, have made the woods their home.
Let Pallas keep the towers her hand hath built,
Us before all things let the woods delight.
The grim-eyed lioness pursues the wolf,
The wolf the she-goat, the she-goat herself
In wanton sport the flowering cytisus,
And Corydon Alexis, each led on
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: Hawaii is 6,740 square miles, and the area of Porto Rico is about
3,600 square miles.]]
It is indeed easy to discover different interests in the
different parts of the Union, but I am unacquainted with any
which are hostile to each other. The Southern States are almost
exclusively agricultural. The Northern States are more
peculiarly commercial and manufacturing. The States of the West
are at the same time agricultural and manufacturing. In the
South the crops consist of tobacco, of rice, of cotton, and of
sugar; in the North and the West, of wheat and maize. These are
different sources of wealth; but union is the means by which
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